AGuyToo

This episode seems to confirm that the plan to capture a wight was the stupidest plan ever. Not only are they not getting any help from Cersei, but they lost the Wall because they lost the dragon. I hope GRRM comes up with something better.

Why did Bran reveal Jon's parentage to Sam, whom he barely knows, but not to Arya or Sansa?

I thought Bran (the all-seeing) simply told them what Littlefinger had done -- which sort of raises the question of why he didn't do so earlier.

I see what Sansa is now doing at Winterfell as good governmental work -- preparing for a long winter. In the books, Jon, while he's still at Castle Black, does some of this same stuff. In the last episode, Jaime of all people worried about the food supply. That's the business of government, not motherhood.

Why? Sansa is not a mother, whereas Dany is (in a manner of speaking).

Rhaegar was the eldest child and heir apparent of Aerys. As such, his legitimate descendant (Jon) is the next in line, ahead of Rhaegar's sister Daenerys. This is the same idea that, in Britain today, puts William, son of Charles, ahead of Queen Elizabeth's other children. The one complication is that there is an (ambiguous) line in the books that suggests that Aerys disinherited Rhaegar (and his descendants). Here is the Quora discussion on the topics: https://www.quora.com/Did-Aerys-The-Mad-King-make-Viserys-his-heir-before-or-after-Rhaegars-death.

I really don't understand Randall Tarly's motivation. He says he already has a queen (Cersei) for whom is apparently willing to die. But why? Cersei just grabbed the throne; she has no actual claim. And she killed much of House Tyrell (House Tarly's liege lords) with wildfire. Dany, on the other hand, is the only (known) descendant of the last Targaryen king (for whom House Tarly fought during Robert's Rebellion). Her claim is clear.

Such as? I think Greta is right. For example, when Edward III died, the crown went to his grandson Richard II (son of the Edward the Black Prince), even though several of Edward III's other children (Richard II's uncles and aunts) were still alive.

Jon (if legitimate) would be ahead of Dany even without male-preference primogeniture. Rhaeger was not only the Mad King's oldest son -- he was the Mad King's oldest child. So even without male preference, Rhaeger would be the heir and all his legitimate descendants would be in line ahead of Rhaeger's siblings.

Proud? I don't think Sansa looked proud at all when she saw what Arya could do and how Arya and Brienne interacted. She looked worried -- maybe jealous.

This woman was probably the inspiration for Natalie. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonina_Makarova She was older (20 not 16) and the circumstances of her first involvement with the Nazis were different, but many of the details match: she was used as an executioner of Russian POWs (1500!), she caught a venereal disease from the Germans that was treated at a hospital, she lived in cognito for many years, and she was eventually tracked down and killed by the KGB.

I think the edition Pastor Tim gave Paige was this one: https://www.amazon.com/Capital-Communist-Manifesto-Writings-Library/dp/0394602021 It contains a collection of Marx's writing, including the Communist Manifesto and an abbreviated, simplified version of Das Kapital.

This idea -- decades-long loyalty -- would be applicable if D&D had stuck with the Dorne plot of the books. There, in GRRM's original vision, it was Prince Doran who plotted "Vengeance. Justice. Fire and Blood" over the course of 20 years. That version was organic and moving and powerful. But in the D&D television version, they instead gave that plot to the cartoon characters Ellaria and the Sand Snakes, who are not Martells. In fact, supposedly to avenge Oberyn Martell and Elia Martell, the cartoon characters basically exterminated House Martell. I know complaining about the TV Dorne plot is kind of tiresome at this point, but I can't help myself.

I'm also excited to see Dany in Westeros. We've been waiting five years for this, after all. But I think the thing I'm most excited about is an Arya/Jon reunion. Even though they interacted on screen only once -- 58 episodes ago! -- that scene involved Needle, and I've since constructed an elaborate back story in my head for those two.

It looks legit. It's way too elaborate to be a hoax, and I also didn't recognize it from an earlier episode. And GoT does film in Croatia.

I don't know where they're going with Arya this season -- family reunion or ninja assassin both seem possible -- but I'd be surprised if Arya killed Cersei, only because it might undermine Dany's story. She's traveling to Westeros with overwhelming strength, including three dragons, the Unsullied, the Dothraki, a huge armada, and alliances with Tyrell/Greyjoy/Dorne. At this moment Dany doesn't know about the Night King. As far as she knows, her principal enemy is Cersei and the Lannisters. If Cersei can be taken out by Arya working alone, that would seem to make the Army (and Navy and Air Force) of Dany kind of overkill.

I agree that the writing on this show is sloppy, especially since they've gone off book, but I think we know as well as we know anything that Cerwyn did refuse. He's the third guy that Lyanna Mormont calls out: "And you, Lord Cerwyn, your father was skinned alive by Ramsay Bolton. Still you refused the call." At this public shaming, Cerwyn just looks down guiltily. If he hadn't been approached, he certainly would have defended himself. (ETA: If you freeze the video at the point the "King in the North" chant starts, you'll see that Cerwyn is in the same position as Manderly and Glover: he's kneeling with head bowed and grasping his sword which is pointed downwards. I bet they filmed a sequence of him pledging fealty in the same way as Manderly and Glover, but cut it for time.) Sansa was completely wrong about the Northern houses. That was one of this season's themes: despite the romance of "the North remembers," the North for the most part did not remember. That was just another fairy tale. In S06E05, Sansa goes on and on at their planning meeting about how Northerners are different, more loyal, and how people would do anything for the Stark name. When Davos gently tries to suggest that she's being too rosy-eyed, she throws shade: "How well do you know the North, Ser Davos?" The subsequent Team Stark tour of the north yielded little beyond the fabled Mormont 62 (and they got those only because of Davos). Their ravens to the Northern houses -- the ones Lord Glover scoffed at -- apparently only resulted in some Hornwoods and Mazins. By the time the battle starts, there are no men -- as far as Jon and Davos know -- left for them to recruit and they are facing defeat by snow if they don't move quickly. Of course, Sansa knows that there is a source of new men, Littlefinger's army, but she chooses not to share that information. She didn't get "cut off" -- she just chose, for whatever reason, not to share. Hardhome did strengthen the Wall because it gave them several thousand Wildling allies. There were only about 100 men in the Night's Watch at the time of the battle of Castle Black. By the time Jon set out for Hardhome there were fewer. Adding several thousand Wildlings at the cost of a handful of NW men was a good deal. It also meant several thousand fewer members of the Night King's army. Cooperating -- to an extent, but only to an extent -- with Stannis to secure the Wildling alliance was also a reasonable call. Again, the Night's Watch only numbered in the dozens. They needed the freefolk.

I agree with those who think the Northern lords were correct in choosing Jon to take the lead in the fight against the Night King. In terms of leadership and relevant experience, there really is no contest between Jon and Sansa. Jon was elected Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch. He led the raid against Craster’s Keep that avenged Jeor Mormont (Lyanna’s uncle). After Alliser Thorne became incapacitated, he led the defense of Castle Black against Mance Rayder’s giant army (which included some actual giants). He converted the Wildlings to allies by battling the Army of the Undead and killing a White Walker. He earned the personal loyalty of a talented group of men (Davos, Tormund, Sam, Edd). And – last but not least – he rose from the dead, making him almost a mythical figure. Sansa’s experience was much more limited and better prepared her for navigating court intrigue at King’s Landing than repelling an invasion by ice monsters. I don’t mean to criticize her at all, but there’s really only so much to be learned from watching Littlefinger. Now, I’m not sure how much the Northern lords know about Jon’s back story, but they certainly know this: he’s a warrior of the first rank who has courageously led men into battle and who has intimate knowledge of the threat from beyond the Wall. Given the challenges ahead, it makes a lot more sense to follow Jon Snow than Sansa Stark, despite her superior legal claim (trueborn vs bastard).

Right, but if Doran hadn't been killed in the first episode, wouldn't he have executed Ellaria and the Sand Snakes for Myrcella's murder? So then, rather than a debate between Doran and Ellaria leading up to "Vengeance. Justice. Fire and Blood", it would just be Doran alone all season.

I completely agree. Doran was a much more interesting character than Ellaria (never mind the Sand Snakes). Giving him his book role would have been more dramatic. The only problem I can see is: what do they do about Myrcella? They need to kill her off somehow, so that all of Cersei's children will be dead.

This is a really good point. I had completely forgotten about Myrcella. How does Tyrion accept the presence of Ellaria in the alliance given this?

LF said the opposite. He told Sansa that the North would rather follow a trueborn daughter of Ned and Catelyn Stark, born at Winterfell, than a motherless bastard, born in the south. He was wrong.

A lot of people died in the battle of Winterfell, including their little brother. Celebration/swelling music/smiling would have been out of place.

Don't forget Varys. The Unsullied are an elite fighting force. Being a eunuch is not enough. Theon isn't qualified.

In this episode, we saw Davos discover Shireen's toy and the pyre on which she was burned. But it's been weeks (at least) since Stannis killed Shireen. What did Davos think happened to her? Did he really never ask? In all this time?