gingerella

Actually, I'm not clear on the Tyrells...Yes, Olenna did say she wanted to go back to Highgarden, but where is Loras? Have we seen him in person this season? I can't remember even seeing him at the wedding. And Mace? Was he just there on the trial committee or is he now permanently in KL as "advisor"? I can't see Cersei putting up with him much, he's rather a dolt, unlike his razor sharp mother, Olenna. And poor Marge. First hubby she seemed to be attracted to but he wanted to dip his royal stick into her brother. Then she gets hitched to a psycho who's murdered during their wedding feast. THEN she gets betrothed immediately to said-psycho's little baby brother whose idea of getting some evening pussy involves sleeping with an actual cat in his bed. Poor Marge. She's a gold digger with a whole lot of bad karma!

Was it the Winterfell Maester who wanted to die at the foot of the Weirwood tree at Winterfell? I cannot remember who that was, but wasn't it when he sent away Bran, Rickon, Osha and Hodor? Wasn't he dying by the foot of the tree? Maybe that's why he wanted to die there, because he knew his powers and knowledge would nourish the Winterfell Weirwood tree?

Perhaps Root Dude IS the tree? Perhaps every Weirwood tree has a Root Dude underneath it because the tree actually emanated from a magical person long ago? That would explain why Weirwood trees always seem to have a human face on the outside..That still does not explain the bone pile under the root system though. Some of you were spitballing a few weeks back about the Weirwood trees needing human blood to survive, and I thought that was a bit much, and gross to boot. What if the trees don't need human blood per se, but they need to essence of good beings or they live on other fallen comrades who possess magical powers? Or believe in magical powers? Are any of these spitballs sticking to the Wall, or are they just sliding down slowly like sad pathetic wads of used chewing gum?

Maybe there is a connection between the dead bones under the tree and the skeleton zombonies?

maybe Varys could be put in charge of one of the cities that Dany has "freed", to rule in her name perhaps? Varys always seemed to me like he would be a fair and decent ruler, and yet, we all know that saying, "absolute power corrupts, absolutely...", so...maybe not...

The thing is though, that magic was making a comeback before the dragon eggs were even close to being hatched. In the very first episode, we see WWs and unspeakable things...that shit was going down already North of the Wall. The dragon eggs hadnt even been given to Dany at that time. I never got the impression that the dragons themselves are bringing back magic, but rather, magic is resurfacing from being dormant, because with Winter comes WWs and all the evil they bring with them. I also think that magic is resurfacing because the right players have been born at the right time - Dany, Bran, Jojen, The Children, the Witch from Dothrak, Mel - these are some of the practitioners right now. But others who dont practice magic must also believe in it for it to strike fear in them. For that we have Jon Snow, Sam, Gilly, Mance and his followers, Mr. & Mrs. Stannis Baratheon, Varys - these folks and others, BELIEVE in the magic, at least the bad mojo kind, and are telling others about it now. Sure, they look crazy...until you see a WW, then you're a believer pretty damn quick!ETA: While Varys hates magic and with good reason, I dont think he would be opposed to it once he really understands what is coming down the road and what is at stake. I think with Varys it will be a matter of separating magic for evil purposes (which is his personal experience with magic) vs. magic for good purposes, which I think is what Dany would try to do with her dragons, assuming they live and dont die in the catacombs.

Bravo abelard! *claps slowly and with appreciation* One minor point, technically speaking, The Hound hasn't died...yet. And given how totally fucking OBVIOUS it was that The Mountain was good and dead at the end of his battle, yet he is suddenly barely alive but savable, I wouldn't count out The Hound just yet. You know how A Story is...

Bringing a quote from the season finale thread here to discuss as forward moving speculation... Well, when you put it that way, WS, nobody comes to mind except the coming together of the Night's Watch, Stannis' army, and Mance's army. Period, end of story. There is nobody else, not even Dany, who can lead the peoples South of the Wall to a successful conclusion against the WW invasion other than the above-mentioned triumvirate. Those three entities need to come together and find a way to work harmoniously - to the extent possible given we're talking of Wildlings and Giants and Wooly Mammoths who all live by their own free-wheeling rules - that's the only way I see this coming to a successful conclusion for beingkind in this world. Together, they have the manpower (assuming there are a shitload more of the remaining 100,000-strong army that we've been told Mance has assembled...somewhere else maybe?), plus Stannis' impressive cavalry of awesomeness, if they combine together with what's left of the NW, that's a lot of man/giant/wildling/Thenn-power right there. Jon and the NW bring hundreds of years of duty, honor, and commitment to protecting the Wall at all costs and they're not bad fighters either at this point and they know their Wall, supposedly. Stannis brings Leadership, commitment, honor, strategery, etc. And Mance brings the ability to pull together warring factions and build an army with a shared single purpose - defeat the evil coming towards them now. Nobody in the South adds much to that pot other than Braavos funding the whole operation. People in KL seems lazy and disinterested, very "me" oriented city. Ditto anywhere else we've seen so far. I don't see any other group of folks that would be able to get the job at The Wall done right now, unless we meet a new person/group soon, that we don't yet know about. So where does Dany and her dragons fit into all of this, given the above? I think she is very, very young and very, very inexperienced. Were it not for her dragons, I don't think she would be where she is right now, and she is already seeing that being the Mother of Dragons comes with its own matched set of special, scaley baggage. I haven't seen anything to show me that Dany is as sage, experienced and deep thinking as Jon Snow, or Stannis, or Mance for that matter. Say what you will about Mance, he did bring together many tribes that fucking hate each other, to fight one common enemy. So there's that ability to bring together diverse peoples. I think Stannis will see that in Mance, and they will come together and figure out a way forward that puts this new triumvirate front and center in the Battle for the Wall, the North, and the 7K in general. One thing I'm wondering though, is if people of the Free Cities, Slavers Bay, Dorne, even the Iron Islanders - have any of them experienced Winter where they are, or is this only for The North? I don't think we've heard people in KL, for example, speaking of Winter Coming, have we? A new Book in the series entitled Varys Bueller's Day Off. I didn't catch that Braavos mention but if so, that's verrrry interesting because it means that Tyrion and Arya will be bumping into each other in Braavos, which piques my interest indeed. No non-Lannister has more vitriol and hatred towards the Lannister clan than Arya Stark right now, and Lannister hates his own family right now more than Tyrion. So...interesting duo to consider...though I'm not sure what would happen with them. Tyrion would be able to tell Arya that he kept her sister safe until she suddenly disappeared at Joff's wedding. He would probably tell her that he offed Tywin once he realized how much Arya hates his father too. Of course, he could eventually help Arya get to Cersei so Arya can check her off The List, but by that time (I mean by the time Arya is a fully graduated alumni of The University of A Man), I rather think Cersei will have already been killed by her Monster. Though...as I think about the Mountain becoming a Monster, is it possible he kills Tommen - either by accident or on purpose - and Cersei really goes over the edge then? Instead of being killed by her Monster? I really cannot image why we would have seen that seemingly ridiculous scene with the new creepy Maester and the Mountain, whom we assumed was dead already, unless something really terrible and fantastically awful is coming from that. We all want Cersei dead, like last month already. And yet...and yet, she survives, all the while plummeting deeper into her own mental darkness. Wouldn't it be weird if Cersei ends of living the longest of all the Lannisters? I mean, by all accounts, someone should have offed her by now, but she remains in place and in power. She just lost her father - and while we don't know the fall out from that, and I had assumed losing Tywin would crush her - seeing how she just told Daddy to basically fuck off, I don't think she'll be sad about it, I think she will see it as Her Moment. She and Jamie can Be Together, tru wub 4evah. They can shack up and who cares who knows. She can puppeteer Tommen on the throne, and who will say otherwise? The person who would have likely spear-headed a rebuff or offered sage wisdom is now sitting next to Imp-In-A-Box, on his way somewhere far, far away. KL is Cersei's playground now...god help the people of KL and the 7K. Oh shit! I just thought of something...what if Tyrion meets up with Arya and he too, enrolls in A Man courses, and becomes able to turn himself into an able-bodied man?! That? Could be really cool...of course we'd lose Peter Dinklage, whom I adore...but storywise that could be very interesting...it cannot be coincidence if Arya and Tyrion both wind up in Braavos about the same time. Okay, I'll stop spitballing now.

When I was reading Pallas' above post, I remembered something I'd forgotten...First, I didn't realize that Tyrion was being imprisoned within the Tower of the Hand, and I'd forgotten that he was the Hand at all, it seems so long ago, but I did wonder when he went into the bed chamber, "Gee, that looks like Tyrion's old bedroom..." DUH. Anyway, then I remembered that at some point around the wedding/murder, someone told Tywin about Shae, and told them to find her and lock her in the Tower. I remember he specifically said Tower. At that point, we thought Bronn had done his job and gotten her on a ship, but who knows what actually happened there and whether or not Bronn was bought off by Tywin at that point, or if he did indeed think he'd spirited Shae away. Knowing Shae and how enraged and jealous she became of the made up love and devotion that Tyrion suddenly professed for his wife Sansa, I could definitely see Shae saying, "fuck this shit, I'm gonna get back at that fucker" and getting right off said ship. But we don't know what happened during that time period. What we do know, is Tywin said he wanted Shae found and brought to the Tower. If Tyrion was in the room then, or he suspected she might be there, I could see him wanting to be certain whether or not his worst fears were real - that Shae was in cahoots with his horrible father. I dunno, came to me while reading Pallas' post and I suddenly thought, "Oh! He wasn't necessarily coming for Tywin, he might have been coming to see if Shae was in need of rescuing or something..." I'm probably wrong about this, but it was a spitball that I needed to cough out.

Dear House White Cloak, It is with deepest respect and admiration that we, the Unsullied Brethren of the Spitball Wall, bend the knee to your benevolence, and good natured oversight of this, our Unsullied Habitat. We realize that we are a bit high maintenance and that you require additional squires, lords, and assorted bannermen to look after our unique needs. And while you expend much energy at times to protect our innocence, we hope that we, in turn, providith you with entertainment akin to a free grogfest at Ye Olde Kingsroad Inn. So many kind thanks for protecting our Unsullied-ness this season. We are indebted to you. The Spitball Wall

I think its high time that Jon Snow and Kit Harrington earned their own thread now, don't you? I know a lot of folks have grown tired of the perpetual pout that is Jon Snow, but I gotta say, he really earned my respect this season, and in particular, in his taking charge and leading his NW Brothers during the Battle of the Wall, and his meeting with Mance Raydar. He showed true leadership throughout the last two episodes, and once the naysayers had either been injured or killed, he was the one who stepped up to the plate and the other NW followed him. He set up the strategy on top of the Wall and left the best man to see it through up there. He sent the right group of seemingly ragtag Brothers down to the tunnel and told them to hold the tunnel no matter what. And they did. They went to their deaths defending the tunnel, knowing they would probably not come out alive, but they followed Jon Snow, their defacto leader. He knew when the moment was right to unleash Ghost. It felt like he was a step ahead that entire battle, always in the right place at the right time. As for his going to seek out Mance, he didnt have to do that, but he knew they couldnt hold off the future Wildlings coming for them either, so he did what he had to do. Not many, men would have walked ut of that tunnel again so soon, not after what they'd seen on the other side of The Wall. I actually couldnt believe he dragged Ygritte into the forest to burn her body. I would have been scared shitless to go back out there knowing what lurked out there. Jon's got some balls for sure. Ned would have been proud. I am glad Ygritte is now out of the picture completely because she was an energ suck for the Jon Snow storyline. And in the aftermath of the Battle of the Wall and Stannis' Pony Brigade riding into town, it feels like Jon's story has moved forward in one huge leap suddenly. He is seen as a leader to what is left of the NW. Stannis sees his as a leader and an honorable ally as he is Ned Stark's son and he was attempting to negotiate with Mance. Okay, so he was trying to kill Mance, but still, I think Mance was making a good point about simply wanting to seek refuge behind the Wall, thats all. And Jon's advice to Stannis was measured and reasonable, not hot headed or irrational. Who knew I coud like Jon Snow again this much? Let's hear it for A Viewer! Also, on a totally superficial note, Kit Harrington wears that NW pelt/coat thing really really well...just sayin'.

I'm pretty sure that Jaime told Tyrion to go straight for the Varys door, but that's not what Tyrion did. Tyrion opted to head for Tywin's chambers and found Shae, then Tywin, then went for the Varys door. Varys expected Tyrion sooner than Tyrion came, and that's why Varys was all like, What have you done in the last 10 minutes while I've been waiting here for you? Yeah, I'm with abelard on this 90, that's what happened. No question about it. There is no way Jamie would try to harm Tyrion, he was the one who tried to help him by telling him to keep his mouth shut at the trial and they'd find him guilty and send him to The Wall. He has always shown genuine love and affection for his little brother, even when his shrew of a sister was shit-talking Tyrion to Jamie, expecting Jamie to agree with her. He always sided with, and stood up for Tyrion. To Cersei, to his father, to pretty much everyone. I think Varys expected Tyrion to hightail it to his door ASAP, and it had to take more than 10 minutes to kill Shae, then regain his presence of mind to realize that he still had unfinished business with Daddy-dearest, and take care of that situation. I think that had to be a much longer delay than Varys expected, so when Tyrion finally showed up looking a bit crazy in the eyes after killing Shae and Tywin, Varys was like "holy shit, what just happened?!" That's why when Varys heard the bells tolling, he knew what Tyrion had done - maybe not exactly whom he'd killed, but that killing had been done, and he realized that more chaos was about to ensue and it was time to cut his losses and sail away too.

Such great observations one and all! I have such piss poor memory on details but here goes: Most Improved Player - Jon Snow I am giving this to Jon Snow because he didn't have to go back out to try to get to Mance, and if he hadn't been present when Stannis rode in, Stannis may well have killed Mance on the spot. And I really think that aligning with Mance and his allegedly ginormous army is going to be key to battling what's coming from North of The Wall. Stannis' men alone cannot do that, and they don't know the terrain like the Wildlings do. And as Mance pointed out, they aren't even dressed for the party correctly. Mance brings deep knowledge of how the WWs work and how to work to beat them. So Jon's chutzpah to go back out there makes him MIP to me because he may just have initiated a huge save for the NW, and the 7K by being out there with Mance when Stannis and Davos rode in to save the day. Most Ferocious, Yet Entertaining Fight - Brienne and The Hound I hate the fighting/bloody scenes but I watched most of this because it alternated between awesomeness and hilariousness. And the girl knight won, yeah! Yeah, I know she's not a proper knight yet but she ought to be. Best Death - A Tie between Joffrey and his granddad Tywin Why? Because I find it infinitely more rewarding to see nasty, sick and twisted fuckers die a completely embarrassing and humiliating death, and both of these fit the bill perfectly. Joff's, because he died after eating pigeon pie and it looked like he choked on his own vomit...and in front of his entire KL kingdom, haha! And Tywin, because he's always in control, always calling the shots, the King behind the King, and he got killed by his "deformed and inept" son while taking a shit on the pot. Awesome way for him to die! Worst Death - Oberyn Martell *sniff* I lerved him so very much. Worst Plot Line - The Affair of the Necklace That.Was.Just.Stupid. Worst Special Effects - A Tie between White Walkers and the Skeleton Zombonies I'm sorry, but both are just stupid-looking and childish and always take me out of the moment as a result. Someone needs to fire the current CGI crew and find another, STAT! Creepiest and Most Perplexing Moment - Sansa Stark Descending the Eyrie staircase dressed up like her dead Aunt Lyssa, and looking every inch "of age". Best Yet Smallest Nod - The Little Kid Who Kills Ygritte His oh-so-slight nod to Jon Snow was made of win. Best Line of the Entire Series - Valar Morghulis! It is known. Best Moment of Season 4 - Valar Morghulis! That? Was just awesome wrapped up in a ball of Goallllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll ! Best Music - Theme Played as Arya Sails to Braavos That was the best use of the theme song I've heard and I loved the vocals and when it went to just acoustic at the end, chilling yet uplifting! I was getting tired of the Rains of Castamere and this fit the bill perfectly.

Yup. A little boy who likes to sleep with his pussy...and I'm not talking about Marge...Although now that I think about it, grog jokes could be conjured here about Pussy Past & Present v. Pussy Future...just sayin'.

RAS, if memory serves me (and it often does not so take this with a grain of salt!), in the opening credits as we pan up North to The Wall, I am always surprised that it doesn't seem all that wide across it's breadth. And IIRC, there is water on both sides, but I could be wrong. I always think "geez, it doesn't look that long and can't folks get around the end parts anyways?" I am far too lazy to check it out, and the Nigeria Cup match awaits me, thus I must go post haste, but if anyone is so motivated to check, that'd be nifty!

They were indeed, weren't they? It was as if in this episode, everyone really came into their own, and story lines advanced one giant step forward. Everyone passed go and collected their 200 gold dragons...Except Arya, who collected iron.

anothermi, I like this idea very much! I hadn't thought of this until I read your post. It sets up a lovely juxtaposition for Good Magic vs. Evil Magic. Clearly we've seen since SO1, how the Weirwood trees have that magical glow about them, but we didn't know why. Now we see that the magical beings that are going to help Bran - and more than likely school him further on his gifts - appear to be good magic, and they know how to vanquish bad magic (the zomBONEys, sorry, I had to...). Meanwhile, Jon Snow is aligning with Stannis Baratheon, the only true living blood heir to the Iron Throne. Jon is aligning with what we hope are the good guys*, for a change! Perhaps Mance and Co. will also see fit to align with Stannis because, well, they have no other choice do they? Live North of the Wall and perish at the bony hands of the WWs, or come South of the Wall, and learn to play by the rules on that side of the fence. *Yes, I know, I know, it's hard to really say Stannis is one of the good guys when he allows his own brother to burn alive at a beach blanket BBQ, but either Mel will be taken out by him because she's pushed him too far, OR, Mel actually does know what's what and reorients her crazy burning ways at some point. I mean, we have to take her seriously to some extent since wasn't it her who said that Stannis has to take his army North first because that is where the "real battle" lies right now? And of course we know she's right in that...probably the only person around who took that North stuff seriously enough to actually do something about it. In other breaking news, Arya has sailed for Braavos, finally! hurray!, and will become a true Braavosi fighter we hope, and since we have seen a certain level of honor amongst the Braavosi we've known thus far - Syrios and Jaqen - A Man always keeps His Word sort of stuff, I hope that Arya will learn the rules of being honorable in Braavos and also pick up the mantle of doing right by the greater good...eventually...she's young, she's got time to learn. Sansa? I just don't know what the hell is going on with her. I fear for her, and I also wonder if some of the spec here could be true, that she falls for the man she perceives as having saved her from evil, and she decides to learn from him how to seek revenge on those who've wronged her. Though at this point, Joffs is already offed, and Tyrion only treated her kindly and protected her, Tywin's dead on the crapper, so who else would she want revenge on? ETA: What I was trying to say above but forgot to summarize, was that I would love to see the remaining Stark kids align with the good guys in all their respective story lines, coming together at some point in the future to save everyone. How satisfying it would be, to me at least, to know that even though Ned's beheading was the beginning of a horrible chain of events that seemed to go from bad to worse - for both his family and the 7K in general - and that his children ended up being the ones who save the day in the end? That would make all this shit we've slogged through worthwhile, at least to me.

SO4:EO10: The Children Tyrion, as he has just choked the life out of his former whore, Shae: "I'm sorry." And Arya to the Braavosi ship's captain: "Valar Morghulis!'

Holy.Fucking.Shit...THAT? Was fucking AWESOME! Best.Season.Finale.EVER!!! My god, there was so much fanfuckingtastic shit that went down that I barely know where to begin! I was so happy to see Jon Snow and the Wall again straight away because I thought we wouldnt see them again until next year (I guess I've become way more invested in The Wall again), so it was nice to get some immediate gratification on that and as soon as they panned back and I saw massive troops galloping towards Mance's camp, I yelled, "No.Fucking.Way! Stannis?! Yessssss, Davos and Stannis!!!! Fuck yeah! That? Was such a great scene, and I thought that we'd just seen the best scene of the night and the rest would be more mellow, as some past season finales have had a moratorium on killing, and more mellowed and somber cadence compared to their infamous episode 9 predessesors. Boy, was I ever wrong about that, huh?! First of all, the scene where we first see Stannis' men riding in, I loved that scene and it felt like Stannis finally did something right for a change. But from a cinematic perspective, that scene where they pan back and we see this huge cavalry riding towards the woods from the Wall, then we go into the woods, then pan back out again to see that another cavalry is riding around the rear of the forest and we realize that some great strategy is happening and Mance's crew is as good as fucked, and THEN - as if those scenes aren't visually enough - we pan out and up again, to see both sides of the cavalry riding into the woods and towards each other in this near-perfect symmetrical unison, until, Until, UNTIL, YESSSSSSSSSSS! They ride together and shit just got really real! That scene was better than awesome sex! I felt like I needed a cig after watching that scene and I don't even smoke. My compliments and tip of the hat to the cinematographers on that entire scene. It had the same magnificence and visual satisfaction that I had from the very first opening scene of the very first episode when they ride through the tunnel and we see the tunnel door open up. Just, gorgeous filmmaking right there folks! The Iron Bank's risk management team would have been pleased to see their money going to such excellent and precise use. As far as the actual scene, I liked that Jon didnt try to lie about always renouncing the NW. I like how he handled that without pretending to still be part of Team Mance. Loved his expression when he was telling Stannis that based on what he has seen out there, they better burn ALL the dead before nightfall. And when that lone Widling came lunging at Stannis and one of his men rode through and took him out, I laughed because it was such a needed moment of levity. So odd to even write that about such a scene but so true. And how King-like of Stannis that while the Lannisters are just playing at being King and rulers of the 7K, Stannis is actually BEING a King by riding North beyond the Wall to protect the 7K unbeknownst to those South of the Wall. Oh, one last thing for A Show, WE GET IT, Jon and Ygritte loved each other, we get it, stop beating us over the head about it. Ironic though, that the one person who shouldnt have had love, had it, if only for a moment, and yet, she would have killed him so how in love could she have been? Aiyiyi. Oh, and while I appreciated Jon being true to himself and the NW and not trying to BS Mance about his still being with the Wildlings, I thought, "oh no, this is pure Ned Stark right here, Mr. Honest himself." Which doesn't bode well for Jon long term, unless...unless, Stannis becomes the King finally, because Stannis is one of the few men left right now who appears to still put honor and righteousness above all else, live beach burnings notwithstanding...And yeah, I wasn't too thrilled with Mel checking Jon out. Maybe she will see that it's actually Jon who is the next King, and not Stannis? But that's for another season folks... Dany's scene was interesting, much like international relief and development, just giving people things is charity, but it does not develop them to stand on their own two feet and create their own destiny. And I too was confused about the two dragonettes that were put into solitary confinement. Was she going to let them die down there, or is she planning on feeding them but not letting them fly free for the time being? I am really confused about that part. Why punish the two dragons that are not causing trouble? It seems like the black one is the one who nipped at her previously, and who seems like he is out of her control. But the other two seemed to be still listening to her, it makes no sense. OTOH, I liked that we saw her struggling to make sense of her charitable freedom- giving, and that she put the safety of the people above her dragons. She isnt totally cold hearted. The whole thing with them trying to Frankenstein The Mountain? That was my only beef with A Show. That was just stupid. I foresee him of course living, and becoming even more of a freak of nature, who should have died for killing my beloved Oberyn. That said, I have a feeling the upside might be that he ends up killing Cersei at some point...hey, A Viewer can dream, cant she? Cersei telling Daddy that she's been definitely brother-fucking, and that Daddy's bloodline is DOA with bastard incest kids? I mean, he knew, we knew he knew, it wasn't that profound. I was a little confused about her saying that Myrcella was sold like cattle in Dorne. Thats not how we know it to be, she is supposed to be living a safe haven life there...well, at least until Cersei became responsible for killing the Prince of Dorne, that wasn't a very nice way to thank the good people of Dorne for taking in her daughter in a time of need, but she is Cersei, so its not like she was going to thank them with an Edible Arrangement bouquet...And as I thought in the Sept "rape" scene, these two enjoy bumping uglies in weird and perverse ways so yeah, I dont think she was all that put out by their last interlude. The new twist of the skeleton fighters was, ummm, a little too CGI for my tastes. That stuff, like the WWs, seems so goofy that it makes me lose my concentration. RIP Jojen, you done good. I guess we arent really supposed to know what the hell that underground Root Ball King is all about, but we will find out next season, I'm sure. I hope that Bran's wolf can hang out in there with them, I dont want to lose another wolfie. And was anyone else thinking right before Bran asked it, "Please, let Bran be able to walk again, make it happen!" And then BAM! Dream denied. Ouch. Oh, and Hodor rocked in that entire scene, Go Hodor! By the time we got to Tyrion, I'd completely forgotten his story even existed, that's how mesmerized I was with this entire episode! All of a sudden I said, "holy shit! Tyrion, I'd forgotten about him, DUH!" Of course Jamie saved his brother, he may be a sister-fucker, but he's not completely devoid of being able to love normally, and he does love his little brother. I got a bit lost in that scene when Tyrion pops up into the castle and starts walking around. I thought that was all part of the plan, until he got that look in his eye...I actually thought he'd gone to Cersei's bed chamber to possibly kill her (wishful thinking, eh?), and I was surprised to see Shae there, then realized that the Hand of the King pin...Shae...No shit! Tywin's fucking Tyrion's sloppy seconds, just, ewww! I still am not convinced though, that she didn't originally love Tyrion. I mean, she's caught between a Casterly rock and a hard place, what's a whore to do? I suppose doing the bidding of the Hand of the King is what most whores in that situation would do, right? But nothing prepared me for Tyrion killing The Great Tywin Lannister while he was trying to take an evening shit. That was fantastic! It's always satisfying for a really nasty fucker to die in a really undignified and humiliating way, and on the pot taking a shit has got to be right up there with "Top Ten Humiliating Ways To Die" in KL and the 7K in general. They'll be telling stories about that over mugs of grog until the next Winter Comes and goes again. But yeah, I was so pleased that Varys was the one to help Tyrion escape, and when the bells started tolling - I totally remembered the "for a dead King" speech - and the look on Varys' face...I honestly wasn't sure, in that moment, if he was going back to get Tyrion off the boat because he realized what he'd done, or not, but when we saw him sitting beside the crate, it was a beautiful and haunting moment to me. Godspeed Varys, and Tyrion, I hope you are off to one of the lands of the Free People. I have been assuming for a few epis now, that Arya would do a mercy killing on The Hound in the end, I was again surprised and not, that she just took his money and walked away letting him die what I can only assume is a slow and horrible death. In the end, The Hound - and all her "life teachers" thus far, taught her well. She knew she was a commodity for The Hound, even though he grew a soft spot for her I think. I dont think she spared killing him because she cared one iota about him, I think as she sat there quietly listening to him try to egg her on to kill him out of anger, she realized that kiling him was too merciful, and simply walking away and leaving him there was the best way to cross him off her list. I dont think it speaks ill of her, I think WE want to think poorly of her because we assumed , we wanted her and The Hound to have some shred of real compassion for one another. And in the end, the circumstances of their being together ultimately revealed that she ws but a golden ticket he was looking to cash in on, period, end of story. I dont blame her for walking away. Girlfriend got balls! Brienne and Pod made me hella nervous tonight, I was really worried that we were about to lose Brienne, and was relieved that she didnt die. I was a bit surprised that Arya hide from her and made her own decision to not be "saved" by anyone..and then I wasnt really surprised if I think about it for a moment because to me, that made perfect sense because since she was spirited away from KL, she has been in the "safety" of so many people who really dont give a shit about her in any meaningful way, and Arya knows this. Everyone just wants to "help"her so that they can reap some reward and even though Brienne isnt like that, there is no way Arya would know that, and after what she has been through, she woud be an idiot to trust anyone again, other than Syrios or Jaqen. I saw her decision to not go with Brienne as Arya finally, Finally, FINALLY being able to make her own decisions and decide what SHE wanted to do in this fucked up world she has been thrust into. And I kept hoping, please, please, please A Show, let her get to a boat, let her get to the water and see a boat...When she got to the water and the captain told her he was going home...to the Free City of Braavos? My hand involuntarily shot up in the air in a fist, and I exclaimed, "YES!!!! Say it, say it, SAY THE WORDS Arya, sayyyy it!" And when she did? I got goose bumps and this wet stuff started coming out my eye holes. I had to rewind and watch it three times, before that wet stuff stopped coming out of my eye holes. What a magnificent scene that was! From her riding the white horse along the ridge, to seeing her on the boat to Braavos. Just, Wow! I had a feeling that would happen since they werent exactly subtle on the "previously, on GoT" recap at the top of the show, but still, it was such an amazing way to end the best season ever! Thank you A Show, for letting some of the good guys get ahead...finally!

Nymeria, we of course hope you will be with us next year but if not, I wanted to also thank you for your scribing during this season. It is most appreciated. Please accept a mug of mead with my sincere thanks.

Awww, I forgot we had a Bran thread because it was stuck over on page two! Anyolhoo, Bran...let's chat about Bran, shall we? I find it so intriguing that so far Bran has warged animals (his own direwolf, and did he warg the three-eyed raven as well? Any other animals?), Hodor (the only person/being we've seen yet in this world who can warg another person), and he appears to be able to channel the past, present and future both by going into a trance on his own, and/or when he communes directly with a Weirwood tree. He has had what appears to be interactions with JoJo in his dreams, yet IIRC, JoJo is also participating and remembers those dreams, at least that's how I'm remembering that bit but I could be misremembering. So what IS up with Bran Stark, named after his preferred baby daddy, yet not of his seed...speaking of which, it's a little weird to name your son after your dead betrothed, when said son is the product of your dead betrothed's brother...just sayin'...Anyway, I'm not so sure if Bran would have had this "gift" if it hadn't been for his near-death-by-falling experience. I feel like his "abilities" are a direct result of one part of his physical being having been suddenly shut off, and another part opening up slowly during his apparently extended bedrest where he seemed to drift in and out of consciousness. It's the ol "when one door closes, another door opens" conundrum. At least to me. IIRC, the first time we saw something of a warging/seeing nature, it was when Bran woke up at the exact moment that Lady was killed, wasn't it? It's like that moment was akin to Mance's "light the biggest fire" moment. His internal horn blasted three times and he was UP! Suddenly Bran was alive, awake, aware. It was as if his coma allowed these "gifts" to spring forth to the surface and were just on a simmer until the right event signaled it was time for Bran to wake up and meet his new abilities. I feel like Bran - as the youngest son of Eddard Stark - would have been nothing amazeballs, maybe a mediocre fighter at best, probably more of a mediator since he seemed to be a rather weak, skinny child in many ways when first we met him. He wasn't particularly adept at swinging a sword and IIRC, his little sister, Arya, kicked his ass when it came to the art of swordsmanship. So what was Bran going to be good at if he'd not been injured so permanently? In some ways, his accident and subsequent paralysis has redefined him into a key player, perhaps the most important player to date, though we wont know until we see what "IT" is that he needs to see or do at the end of this journey he is on. Do you all remember how divided and creeped out most of us Unsullied were when we first met JoJo and his badass sis? Some of us were sure they were baddies out to kill or deliver Bran to some nefarious waiting dark lord. I think JoJo and Company have done a pretty good job of ferrying a non-walking almost full grown young man now on a long and arduous journey and I hope we get a glimpse tonight of where they are in that journey. I'm getting a little tired of it being a journey without end though. It'd be nice to see some sort of resolution tonight, where we at least can make some more spitballs as to where he is now, why, and what's next for the Scooby Doo Gang.

ahhh, anothermi, thanks for going back and rewatching the carnage so many times, I know I can only deal with one viewing and that's my personal limit! I guess when I saw Mance's "biggest fire the North has ever seen", I felt very 'meh' about it. I live in an area where we have hellish fires and for me, that wasn't even moderately impressive. It was something that if I saw it in real life I'd think, "well at least it's small and contained thus fairly manageable!" But whaddya gonna do?! As for the owl, thanks for placing him at the top of the Wall for me. I thought that convo took place on the ground, which shows how much I missed by clutching my pillow to avert my eyes of horror.

So you mean it's like Roose intimating, "Everything the darkness touches is ours..."? If so, insert ominous organ chords here! oooEEEEoooo...But it would certainly parallel the fucked upedness of the Bolton Family.

This is true but as Jojen has intimated, Bran's abilities are at an entirely different level to any other person, He Is Special. He Is Unique. At least that's what A Show has been texting me for two seasons now. Bran Is Special. Rickon, not so much...poor Rickon! I want to know how he and Osha and Shaggy Dogg are doing. Anyway, so far we have seen only Bran warg another human, and since Thenn's and Wildlings seem to really loathe, nee hate, each other, it would seem that we'd have already seen one side warg the other, even if only for shits and giggles. So until A Show tells me otherwise, I'm assuming only Bran can warg another person. In fact, I think it is possible at some point in the future, we will see Bran warg a WW, or the creepy things that make WWs. I rather think we'll find that Bran can literally warg the shit out of anything with a pulse and then some. Would it not be fucking cool to see Bran warg one of the dragonettes? Talk about the wind beneath my wings...

Actually, what I'd been meaning to ask about relates to just before the Thenn says, "it's time". It seemed like the camera is in the Wildling camp, then pans upward and we see a hill/mountain top ridge with glowing red/orange behind it. It turns out it's Mance's fire burning just North of the Wall, but the Wildling advance team is just South of Castle Black and hence just South of the Wall. I was wondering how they could see the fire glow if it was down on the ground on the other side of the Wall because, yanno, that just aint logistically possible from the vantage point where the Wildling group had been camping out. A Show made it seem/appear that the Thenn awoke just after the camera pans upward and we see the glow of a presumed fire over the ridge, but since there is no way they could have actually seen that from the ground South of Castle Black, I guess I can see how the Thenn was warging the owl, and he saw through the owl's eyes, that the fire had been lit on the other side of the Wall...was the owl seen atop the Wall? I only remember seeing him on what I thought was a wall of the lower ground level of the castle...if he was on top of the Wall, then it all makes sense. Hunky dory!