WhiteStumbler

I didn't mean Sam literally gave Olly permission! 😄 I meant that the words Sam said could be interpreted by Olly as giving him permission. Pup, I agree that it is a stretch to think that Sansa would A) trust Littlefinger, and B) marry into the family that killed her mother and brother. I totally understand why Sansa wouldn't trust Brienne right away, but hadn't even thought about the fact that they were both in KL for some period of time between Jaime's return and Joffrey's wedding! If they had spoken then, Sansa might have been more trusting when she saw Brienne later at the inn. Of course, it is possible Sansa would be less trusting of someone associated with the Lannisters (thru Jaime), so hard to say how it would have played out.

General Thoughts: Seeing the Bolton sigil on the towers of Winterfell still made me angry. The season starts with a flashback, and Young Cersei is told she will have three children. Was she lying to Catelyn Stark when she described her youngest, a black-haired beauty who was lost to a fever? Dorne was just as boring as I remember, but WOW does it look great. Amazing sets and locations. The things with Jon being killed by the Nights Watch and Stannis killing Shireen still stick in my craw. Jon's killing is crap storytelling, and feels especially manipulative in retrospect, though I guess it does get Jon out of the Nights Watch. Stannis killing Shireen is frustrating because they never sold the suffering of his army before he agreed to burn his own daughter. Have some scenes with soldiers talking about how bad things are. Have some men dropping from hunger. SOMETHING was missing to cause Stannis to do a 180 turn from "you are my daughter" to "yup, who has a match?". Meryn Trant was plenty killable without making him a pedophile. I still don't know what the High Sparrow was up to - pious holy man, or rank fraud? At Kings Landing: Cersei met the High Sparrow and rearmed his followers (in an attempt to get some leverage over the "smirking whore from Highgarden"), recreating the Faith Militant for the first time in over 200 years. The Mountain shuddered back to life. Loras Tyrell is seized with suspicious ease by the Faith Militant and imprisoned for being gay. Jaime enlists Bron for a rescue attempt in Dorne, and they sail past the Sapphire Isle on the way to bring Myrcella home. The Queen of Thornes returns to Kings Landing, there is a inquest into the sexual predilections of Loras, and Margaery is seized by the Faith while Tommen sits there like an idiot. Why didn't the Queen of Thorns stop the deliveries of food from Highgarden, as she had told the High Sparrow she would if her children weren't released? Cersei came to deliver some platitudes and leftover venison to Margaery (and to gloat a bit) before the High Sparrow seized her and threw her into a cell of her own. HA! Cersei confesses to bedding Lancel and, as atonement, is shorn of her hair and forced to walk naked through a torrent of excrement and abuse back to the Red Keep, where she is met by the newest member of the Kingsguard, Mountainstein. In Dorne: We met the ruler of Dorne, Oberyn's older brother who (reasonably) points out that Oberyn died in a trial by combat, so there is nothing to "avenge". Now in Dorne, Jaime wants to bury the bodies of the patrol they kill, saying "corpses raise questions, questions raise armies". Bad writing that the very minute that Jaime and Bronn try to rescue Myrcella, the Sand Snakes (yawn) try to capture her. Bad footwork in the fight scene as well. Bronn almost dies from poison, but is saved by Younger Snake after telling her that she is the most beautiful woman in the world. The ruler of Dorne (I am so bored with this story-line I can't be bothered to look up his name) agrees to sent Trystane and Myrcella back to KL with Jaime, provided that the wedding between the two kids proceeds and that Trystane is given a seat on the Small Council. Elaria poisons Myrcella with a kiss, and Myrcella tells Jaime "I'm glad you're my father" before dying in her father/uncle's arms. In Meereen: Varys and Tyrion arrive in the east, and the Spider convinces The Imp to travel to Meereen to meet the Mother of Dragons. Where did Mossador come from, and how is Dany suddenly taking advice from him? Wasn't he just a stand-in for the freed slaves (and later sacrificial "victim"), and why did they just drop him in the middle of the action with no intro? Tyrion discovered a new-found inability to lay with prostitutes in Volantis, and was promptly captured by Jorah. Dany learned from Barristan that Rhaegar loved singing in the streets of KL and didn't like killing, shortly before being killed by a bunch of Sons of the Harpy NPCs. It still bugs me that the Unsullied would be patrolling the streets with long spears, instead of the shortsword (Missandei said “(The Unsullied) begin their training at five. Every day they drill from dawn to dusk until they have mastered the shortsword, the shield, and the three spears.”) Dany punished two of her dragons by locking them away after Drogon ate a child, then fed them one of the Masters of Meereen. She then does a heel-turn and agreed to reopen the fighting pits, but only to free men. Tyrion doesn't enjoy the company of Jorah, complaining of the "long sullen silences and the occasional punch in the face: The Mormont Way". Tyrion then sees a flying dragon near the Doom, they are attacked by the Stone Men, and Jorah gets greyscale. Tyrion tells Jorah of his father's death at the hands of the Nights Watch mutineers, and they are captured by slavers shortly after that. Tyrion and Dany meet, with an assist by the exiled Jorah. Dany looked gutted as she banished Jorah for the second time. Things get crazy at the fighting pit, and the situation looks grim until Drogon shows up and he and Dany fly away. Why didn't the Sons of the Harpy kill Melisandre, Tyrion, Daario, Jorah, Grey Worm, etc. after Dany flew away? Not as tempting a target as the Queen, but killing off all of her advisers seemed a logical thing to do after the fire breathing dragon wasn't around to stop them. Varys and Tyrion were reunited. In the North: Lord Royce (of the Vale) threw some viscous shade on his future Lord, saying of Robin "he swings a sword like a girl with palsy". Brienne's inner suffering and external lashing out at Pod was the result of her feeling that she failed to protect Arya. She tries to approach the other Stark sister after Pod spots her at an inn, but is rebuffed by Sansa. She offers to begin training Pod to be a knight (I am resisting making jokes about his spear-work). On their way north, Littlefinger sold Sansa on the idea of becoming a wife for the second time by telling Sansa "You've been running all your life. Terrible things happened to your family and you weep. You sit alone in a dark room, mourning their fates. You've been a bystander to tragedy from the day they executed your father. Stop being a bystander, you hear me? Stop running. There's no justice in the world. Not unless we make it. You loved your family. Avenge them." In Winterfell with the Boltons, LF tells Roose "I assure you she's still a virgin. Tyrion never consummated the marriage. By the law of the land, she's no man's wife." This doesn't make sense. If the advice of the Small Council and consultation with the High Septon were required to annul a betrothal, what would be required to set aside a marriage (even if the couple is accused of regicide and the groom of Hand-icide)? The bar might be a bit lower since this isn't a royal marriage, but it still nagged at me. Sansa met Reek (Reunion! But not the happy kind!) and is married to Ramsay in the snow next to the weirwood tree where Ned sharpened his sword and Bran looked at a comet in the sky years ago. She is then raped by Ramsay while Reek is forced to watch. Ramsay and 20 good men do serious damage to Stannis' army. I call shenanigans. Stannis sends Davos back to Castle Black for fresh horses and supplies, but before he leaves he gives Shireen a hand-carved stag. Shireen tells her father about two Targaryen brothers who fought over the Iron Throne, and gives Stannis implicit permission to kill her with this bit of dialogue... Stannis: Sometimes a person has to choose. Sometimes the world forces his hand. If a man knows what he is and remains true to himself the choice is no choice at all. He must fulfill his destiny and become who he is meant to be. However much he may hate it. Shireen: It's all right, Father. Stannis: You don't even know what I'm talking about. Shireen: It doesn't matter. I want to help you. Is there any way I can help? Stannis: Yes, there is. Shireen: Good. I want to. I'm the Princess Shireen of House Baratheon. And I'm your daughter. Stannis: (sighs) Forgive me. Stannis then burns his OWN FREAKING DAUGHTER at the stake in an inexplicable heel-turn. More shenanigans. The result of the murder of Shireen is that half his army deserts with all the horses, Selyse kills herself, and Mel flees to Castle Black. Way to go, Stannis. He then tries to besiege Winterfell, his army is broken, and he is executed by Brienne (who was called away just in time to miss Sansa's SOS signal). Reek and Sansa kill one of Ramsay's girlfriends and jump over the walls of Winterfell into a snowbank. In Braavos: Arya learned more of the mysteries of the Faceless Men at the House of Black and White on her way to becoming a FAWN (Faceless Assassin Warrior Ninja). Arya is given her first assassin assignment, and meets the Thin Man who is selling the Braavosi equivalent of trip insurance, but failing to pay off on the policy when there is a claim. Arya is ordered to kill the Thin Man, but sees Mace Tyrell arrive in Braavos with Meryn Trant. Mace tries to teach one of the Iron Bankers to sing, then Ser Meryn turns out to be a pedophile (because, why not?), and Arya crosses another name off of her list. ETA: Arya is punished for failing to kill the Thin Man by loosing her sight. At The Wall: Mance Rayder is burned at the stake by Stannis, but Jon puts him out of his misery with an arrow to the heart. Jon is nominated to be Lord Commander by Sam, and wins on a tie-breaker vote from Maester Aemon (every vote matters!). Janos Slynt getting executed never gets old. Stannis drops a hint about Jon's parentage, when his wife says that Jon is "a bastard by some tavern slut", and Stannis says "Perhaps, but that wasn't Ned Stark's way." Mel tried to seduce Jon and, after being rebuffed, turned at the door and said "you know nothing, Jon Snow". Whoa. Stannis revealed his guilt at about giving Shireen the doll that gave her greyscale, and said "you are the Princess Shireen of House Baratheon, and you are my daughter." There is a nice musical callback here to Shireen's nursery rhyme about "The birds have scales ♪ And the fish take wing ♪ I know, I know ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪" Aemon says to Sam "A Targaryen alone in the world... it's a terrible thing", and moments later Jon Snow walks in. Subtle foreshadowing? Stannis marched on Winterfell after Jon refused his offer to become a Stark. Maester Aemon told Gilly get Baby Sam "south, gillyflower... before it's too late." Later he talks to his brother Aegon in a dream, saying "Aeg! I dreamed that I was old", and gets one of the few peaceful deaths in Game of Thrones. Sam and Gilly make love FINALLY. Sam gives Olly permission to kill Jon, saying "Sometimes a man has to make hard choices, choices that might look wrong to others, but you know are right in the long run." Jon and Thormund arrived in Hardhome, where Thormund killed the Lord of Bones and Jon tried to convince the Free Folk to trust him and come south of The Wall. We meet Wun Wun, some of the FF agree to get on the boats, then the dogs start barking and HOLY FORKING SHIRTBALLS! Jon kills one White Walker with Longclaw, but the White Walkers raise tens of thousands of blue-eyes soldiers for their army. Jon returns to The Wall and the Wildlings pass thru, and he sends Sam, Gilly and Baby Sam to Oldtown so he can become a maester. Jon is stabbed to death by members of the Nights Watch, including Thorne and Olly. Ugh.

DWPup! Llywela! SilverStorm the Oathkeeper! I will be here - HYPE IS BUILDING!! I am re-watching in preparation for S8. I couldn't go all the way back, so I started with S3. What a lot of amazing goodness there. Just started S4. "King" Joffrey is about to get got. Woo hoo! I should be able to finish the re-watch before the new season starts, but it will be a race to the end. Hope some of the fellow contributors return.

Ugh. I think even the Iron Bank would realize that there is no way to lend gold to the Army of the Dead. The Golden Company would fight for the living, because the dead don't pay their debts. There is also another large company of sellswords still in the Cities around the Bay of Dragons (renamed from Slavers Bay by Dany) - I assume they might pitch in. Everyone we like dead? Sure. Everyone? I don't think any show could be that bleak. Sunday sucked without my GoT fix. This is going to be a long wait for new content. <sigh>

Just realized the dual meaning of the episode title "The Dragon and The Wolf": Sure, obviously Jon Egg-Man and Dany, but also Lyanna and Rhaegar! 0_o

He did! This is from S3E02: Bran: Does it (the Three Eyed Raven visions) have anything to do with warging? Jojen: No, the raven is something different, something deeper. The raven brings the sight. Bran: Seeing things that haven't happened yet? Jojen: Or things that happened long before you were born or things that are happening right now thousands of miles away. And this from S4E05: Jojen: I have the sight. I can see things. Karl Tanner: That's very helpful. Jojen: Things that haven't happened yet.... <snip> I saw you die tonight. I saw your body burn. I saw the snow fall and bury your bones. And when Jojen has died and Meera and Bran reached the 3ER cave in S4E10: Meera: My brother, he led us to you and now he- RootDude: He knew what would happen. From the moment he left, he knew... and he went anyway. But I don't think Bran can, because I can't find him explicitly saying he can. From S7E03: Bran: It (being the 3ER) means I can see everything. Everything that's ever happened to everyone. Everything that's happening right now. It's all pieces now, fragments. I need to learn to see better. When the Long Night comes again, I need to be ready. And S7E07: Bran: I can see things that happened in the past. I can see things happening now all over the world. It almost seems like Jojen could see the past, present, and future, but Bran can only see the past and present. Huh.

Great insight. I raise a mug of grog to you! I don't think Bran can see the future. I don't remember any of his visions including anything that is definitely in the future. From the finale... Bran: I can see things that happened in the past. I can see things happening now all over the world. I am 99.999% sure that The Wall...came tumblingtumbling, doooown. (sorry)

Where was Bronn? I find it ludicrous that Jaime would leave KL without at least Bronn. Also, as you say, I would imagine there would be other soldiers who would put their personal loyalty to Jaime over their loyalty to a Queen that destroyed the Sept of Baelor (even while claiming it was an "accident"). Jaime should not have been utterly alone in that last scene.

"I will be your champion". I still get goosebumps. No gallant gesture shall go unpunished. So Ellaria is still technically probably still alive, but as dead to the story as Septa Shameshameshame. For us it was weeks, I guess for the characters it might not have been. Good point. I wasn't sure that Viserion was the one that was struck down and zombiefied. I think the name "Viserion" has been used twice in the show. For me there is Drogon and The Other Two.

I think this is everyone. Please let me know if I left someone out. Lady Olenna Tyrell, the Queen of Shade (This one hurt - pour one out y'all. Her snark will be missed.) Walder Frey (HA!) Every Frey who means a damn thing (Why Arya so angry? “Tell them; ‘Winter came for House Frey’”) Yellow/Orange Dragon (It rained on my face there for a bit) Lord Petyr Baelish (HA! HA! Grovel, worm!) Ellaria Sand (I thought the whole Dorne Experience was boring AF, but the last scene with Ellaria was brilliantly acted) Sand Snakes (meh) Thoros of Myr (Only the second character to die in his sleep, the first being Maester Aemon. Of course, Thoros died after being attacked by a zombie polar bear.) Zombie Polar Bear (Freaking terrifying!) Benjen Stark (Too rushed) Randall Tarley (meh) Dickon Tarley (No more name jokes) Virtually all the remaining Free Folk (I just realized this when writing this list. They are all gone. Maybe Thormund and some women and children lived. Ouch.) Yara’s Ironborn (meh) The Ironborn Theon Killed (meh - that was stupid. Why was he still skulking around weeks after saying he was going to rescue Yara?) Lannister Army (Great action scene IMO!) Tyrell Army (off-screen) Zomboni-In-A-Box ("Cersei, turn the crank on the side!") One White Walker and a bunch of zombonis (We learned that if the one who turned them dies, they all die. Interesting...) The Wall (It was inevitable. I'm glad it wasn't Bran's fault; that kid is messed up enough as it is.)

THAT is a great freaking question! It seems sooo weird. Looked similar, but hard to tell. Jon is the Egg Man, whoever the Chicken is had better run from The Hound! :-)

Bran didn't know that it was significant until Sam told him it was. As Dany's Hand, Tyrion would be concerned about the possible political implications of a King in da Norf / Targ physical alliance. Since Jon has already pledged fealty to Dany, there is no political benefit to having him as her bedmate as well, and it could be an impediment to a future political alliance with another Great House. Oh Ging, we will have to definitely have to agree to disagree about this one. I think the effects were feature-film quality, as good as anything I have seen in a theater in the last few years. Great to read your thoughts (as always)!

I always took that to be a reference to Robert's rebellion, where the Stag, Lion , and Wolf all worked together to defeat the last Targaryen (the Mad King). The Targaryens really like the name Aegon... Aegon Targaryen was Aegon The Conqueror, but also, much later, there were other Targaryens named Aegon. I think I have this right... Maester Aemon's brother was named Aegon (their father was Maekar). Aemon called him "Egg". After Aemon refused the throne, Aegon became king. It seems a bit weird that Maekar would name his second son after the founder of their dynasty, but that seems to be what happened. Aerys (The Mad King) was the son of Aegon. The Mad King was father to Rhaegar, Viserys, and Dany. Rhaegar had two children with his wife Elia Martel, named Rhaenys and Aegon. All three were killed in the sack of KL (supposedly by The Mountain), and Rhaegar was killed by Robert Baratheon. After getting killed by Robert, Rhaegar's son with Lyanna Stark was born, and she named that son Aegon Targaryen (and he was raised as Jon Snow). Jon is the 5th (at least) Targaryen to be named Aegon, and, depending on the timing, there could have been two people alive named "Aegon Targaryen" at one time - the son of Rhaegar and Elia, and the son of Rhaegar and Lyanna.

I took it to mean that The Hound desperately wants to kill his brother. For pressing his face into the fire like a fat mutton chop. Great quote re: Jaime and his vows! He has come a long way since then. WHY didn't Dany et al ask Cersei for pyromancers and wildfire? Seems like that would be a lot more useful than just soldiers. ETA Season 7 Complete: Ghost sightings = 0 BOOO!

Pig shit! The second word in the episode was "pig shit" (pitch). HAHAHAHA! This? It is between Cat and Robb, but I think it has some of the flavor of what you are looking for. Cat: And you agreed to it (marriage to a Frey). You gave him your word. Treat your oaths recklessly and your people will do the same. If your father lived his life for one thing... Robb: My father is dead, and the only parent I have left has no right to call anyone reckless. Littlefinger is dead! I've been waiting for that since the beginning of S2... Littlefinger: (to Ross) You know you remind me of another girl? A lovely thing I once acquired from a Lysene pleasure house. Beautiful, like yourself, and intelligent as yourself. But she wasn't happy. She cried, often. I asked her why but, we didn't have the kind of rapport that you and I have. Yes, it was quite sad. Girls from Lysene pleasure houses are expensive. Extremely expensive. And this one wasn't making me any money. I hate bad investments. Really, I do. They haunt me. I had no idea how to make her happy, no idea how to mitigate my losses. A very wealthy patron, he offered me a tremendous amount of money to let him... transform this lovely, sad girl. To use her in ways that never occur to most men. And you know what occurs to most men. I wouldn't say he succeeded in making her happy, but my losses were definitely mitigated. And now all the Targaryen steel weapons that we know about are either on the way North or already there... Widows Wail (with Jaime) Oath Keeper (with Brienne) Heart's Bane (with Sam) Knifey! (with Arya) Long Claw (with Jon) SO MUCH TO UNPACK! ETA THIS from The Hound: What did they do to you? Doesn't matter. That's not how it ends for you, brother. You know who's coming for you. You've always known.

<bows> I seek only to serve the realm. I think that is true (anything forged with volcanic heat kills WWs), either dragonglass or Valyrian steel. That makes sense to me.

Tile Face Woman: (in Qarth, painting symbols on a face-down man) Jorah the Andal. This man must sail past old Valyria. All who travel too close to the Doom must have protection. Jaime: (seeing Ned's melted down sword) No one's made a Valyrian steel sword since the Doom of Valyria. Tyrion: (while a prisoner of Jorah) You know what they say. The Doom still rules Valyria. What about the demons and the flames? Aren't you afraid of the Doom? Jorah: No. But pirates are. The poem Tyrion recites and Jorah finishes... Tyrion: "They held each other close and turned their backs upon the end. The hills that split asunder and the black that ate the skies; The flames that shot so high and hot that even dragons burned; Would never be the final sights that fell upon their eyes. A fly upon a wall, the waves the sea wind whipped and churned--" Jorah: "The city of a thousand years, and all that men had learned; The Doom consumed it all alike, and neither of them turned." I guess volcanoes and/or some special Valyrian iron / other ingredients to start with, otherwise the Targs could have made more, right?

Why do you think this is so? I can't find an explicit reference to dragons being necessary to make Valyrian steel. Also, it is called "Valyrian steel", not "Targaryen steel", so I assumed that it was from Valyria, which seemed volcanic (the Smoking Sea, the Doom). If it only required dragons, couldn't the Targaryens have made more of it after the Doom?

It was at the beginning of the scene where Craster and Mormont were both killed by the NW, so it was after Jon saw Craster leave one son to the WWs, but two more sons were born after that - Gilly's and the one we watched getting "turned" after getting put outside on the orders of the Fooking Legend of Gin Alley. I don't know if Craster knew that Gilly had a boy when he was counting. He knew she was in labor, but other than that...? Yeah, I am thinking that my Ice King - LoL connection spitball is unlikely. Momentary lapse of reason. And giants.

I love the math, but Craster actually told Ld. Comm. Mormont how many sons he had... Craster: You have one son, don't you, Mormont? I had my 99th. You ever meet a man with 99 sons? And more daughters than I can count. I don't know if Baby Sam was the 99th or the 100th. Interesting. Let's hope we never see that family reunion. I have a thought clanging around in my head about the vision that brought the Band of Brooders north to capture a ice zombie: Hound saw the vision in the flames of a mountain that "looks like an arrowhead"; BoB used that vision to go Beyond The Wall and search for an ice zombie example; they ended up near the mountain and on a frozen island; the result was a zombie ice dragon. Could it have been a trap? Could the King of the WWs have planted that vision to lure the BoB into the real north knowing that Dany would have to fly to the rescue and that he could take down one of the dragons? Those spears seem really convenient. As is the (poor, dead) dragon falling into a lake so as to immediately douse the flames that might otherwise consume his body. The more I think about it, the more worried I become. ETA: Remember the dragon shadow over Kings Landing that Bran saw in his vision at the weirwood tree in Season 4? What if that is the shadow of a zombie dragon?!? YIKES!!!

This episode made it rain on my face twice. Once for a CGI character arcing across a grey sky to it's cold watery death. The horror of it, to go from living the equivalent of a dragon dream life (flying! and flaming!), to crashing to the ground just gutted me. Once for Dany's reaction. I saw that some others weren't impressed with her performance, by the scene between her and Jon hit me right in the feels.

HA! Might have to rename it the Urine Effect - He went from KL to attacking the Rebel Greyjoy fleet to KL again to attacking the Unsullied fleet (on the opposite side of the continent!) within three episodes!! <applause> Brilliant. Nicely drawn parallels. Both of them had skills (arms training for Jon, smarts and a desire to "be a wizard" for Sam) that should have lifted them high in those respective societies. Jon ended up dead, Sam ended up ignored. WARNING! The next episode has been leaked online. Again. Be careful out there my friends. I will be unable to watch until sometime mid-week next week. There is an eclipse to watch. I am going to try to avoid newsertainment / social media until then.

I think it is a matter of plot, unfortunately. The story needed Bran to complete his training and be an all-seeing, time traveling 3ER with warg abilities, but still make it to the other side of The Wall before the Army of the Dead made that impossible. He is now back home, more of a collection of mysterious abilities than an actual character anymore, but he has (presumably) some important part to play... later. So right now the plot has to keep him sort of on ice (except for his "send the ravens" message to the maester) - he can't say too much without revealing where the story is going.

Here is Littlefinger, reporting to Cersei that Sansa is alive and in Winterfell: Littlefinger: My sources are well placed. They tell me Roose Bolton plans to marry her to his son Ramsay, a bastard recently legitimized by King Tommen. That is why I think it takes a royal decree.

That's right! Same great name, different pommel. <tips cap>