Constantinople

Or perhaps it was My sister is dead Because Lannisters suck Killing them all Is the best revenge f*&$! Perhaps Oberyn wants to secure some vital information in case of Tyrion' execution, such as what happens when you take a honeycomb and a jackass into a brothel.

What I loved about the Pod & Brienne scenes is that I could imagine Jaime saying exactly the same thing as Brienne, but perhaps a different tone. Brienne/Jaime: Didn't they teach you how to ride a horse? Pod: I took a vow Brienne/Jaime: I release you from that vow. Silence Brienne/Jaime: That means you can go Brienne/Jaime: Have you ever done anything remotely related to combat? I don't understand that either. It's getting harder and harder to be the Worst Sister of Westeros. Before this season, I would have given it to Cersei. Then, upon seeing her brother buring rapture, I thought Selyse had a firm grip on the title, even after Cersei accussed Tyrion of murder. Tyrion, after all, is not yet a heap of ash and bone. But Lysa just blew them out of the water. I don't see how she can be topped.

I think Littlefinger was keeping a lot of irons in the fire, and selecting which one to use depending on how things turned out. One of his long-terms goals was to murder Jon Arryn so that he could marry Lysa and become acting Lord of the Vale (I don't think Lysa would have cared too much about whether Littlefinger was the nominal Lord of Harrenhal). But he also wanted to divert suspicion by blaming the Lannisters. If Ned cast his lot with LF, and thus the Lannisters, LF said he wanted a modest reward. I suspect that was marrying Lysa (among other rewards). But Ned cast his lot with Stannis. LF sticks with the Lannisters, and as a loyal retainer, and about the only person who can bring Lysa back into the fold, he gets to marry Lysa. Killing Joffrey makes a lot of sense for LF because, as LF noted, Joffrey is simply too unpredictable. What doesn't make sense is Tyrells, specifically, Olenna, trusting Littlefinger enough to conspire to commit regicide with him. But LF isn't omniscient, nor is he perfect. He had no way of knowing that Tyrion and Catelyn would be in the same tavern at the same time, nor that Catelyn would take Tyrion to the Vale. Nor could he have known how Joffrey would treat Tyrion at Joffrey's wedding feast, thereby making Tyrion look guiltier than he already did. Nor, assuming LF wasn't the one behind Bran's failed assassination, could he have known that a Valyrian dagger would be the weapon of choice. LF merely benefited from that. LF is generally excellent at making plans to achieve his long-term goals improvising, as and when necessary, while still keeping his goals in mind lying convincing others how they would mutually benefit form working with him while (I suppose that's a specific example of lying) appearing unthreatening In short, LF would do extremely well at Survivor. That being said, I don't think LF's position is strong as all that. He can consolidate his control within the Vale, and use the Red Wedding as an excuse to use the Vale's soldiers to take control of parts of the Riverlands. But aside from that, he's essentially in internal exile unless he keeps flitting back to the capital. LF also must know, or should know, that it makes as much sense for the Tyrells to kill him, as it did for LF to kill Donotos Holland. Perhaps more importantly, to paraphrase Varys, "No one cries for spiders, whores or Littlefingers". No one will give a rat's ass the moment LF shuffles off the mortal coil. I haven't read the books, so I don't know if LF lives or dies, but if he dies, I suspect it will be something similar to his confrontation with Cersei in the S2 premiere. He's off guard because he thinks he's safe and he mouths off because he's too impressed with himself. Then the other person basically says to him or herself, fuck it, I don't need this guy, he's just not worth the aggravation. Only this time, unlike Cersei, they don't revoke the order to kill him.

Prince Oberyn's poem Violets are blue Roses are red Counting the days Till the Mountain is dead.

It helps if you break them down by color, geography or other defining features. For example Meeren: Black beard - Daario Naharis - leader of the mercenary army The Second Sons Grey/White beard - Barristan Selmy - former Lord Commander of King Robert's Kingsguard, now Lord Commander of Daenery's Queensguard (though I think that's a Queensguard of 1 for now) Red beard, with some grey - Ser Jorah Mormont - Effectively the Queen's Hand King's Landing Trim grey/white beard, so trim it's barely there - Tywin Lannister - Hand of the King Long white beard, fakes walking with a stoop - Grand Maester Pycelle - Lannister bootlicker Trim black beard and moustache with some grey - wears pants when making out - Prince Oberyn from Dorne Loras Tyrell, Margaery's brother, heir to Highgarden and the Knight of the Flowers. Though clean shaven, his beard has a multitude of nicknames, such as "Your Grace" or "Cersei".

My Tully Ranking 1. Blackfish - MIA so far this season. I was greatly amused how he backhanded Karstark to the ground when Karstark back talked to Robb. I also liked his remark to Catelyn that has to remind himself that in the darkest days of war, there are places where nothing is happening at all. Hope he gives Walder Frey hell. 2. Hoster - He might not be contributing much to the family now that he's dead, but at least he's not screwing things up either. 3. Edmure - Normally a drip like Edmure wouldn't rank so highly, especially after the fiasco of attacking the Mountain at the farm. But consider the alternatives. Plus, he was willing to play ball and marry a Frey sight unseen. 4. Roslin - A Tully by marriage. Her ranking could fall if we find out she knew about the Red Wedding beforehand (but it would never fall below Lysa's since Roslin could have never done anything to stop it). 5. Catelyn - Kidnapping Tyrion and letting Jaime go free really weren't good ideas (I doubt Tywin would have backed Frey's Red Wedding if Jaime were still captive). Nor was believing Littlefinger when he said Tyrion bet against his brother Jaime in a tournament, thus allegedly resulting in Littelfinger losing the dagger to Tyrion. Still, as hot headed as she is, she's not 6. Lysa - Killed her husband and, in my view, responsible for the deaths of her brother-in-law, sister, nephew and countless others, all so her screams could be heard across the Narrow Sea as Littlefinger littlebanged her. She stinks on ice.

Otherwise known as Cat's younger brother, Katmiss, for his archery skills (I totally stole that nickname from a TWoP Walking Dead poster).

Leaving aside the whole issue as to whether 10,000 soldiers (and 3 teen aged dragons) are enough to conquer the Seven Kingdoms, I didn't understand Ser Barristan's plan to sail on King's Landing, at least the part about calling it unexpected. I don't know how long it would take to sail 93 ships with approximately 10,000 men from Mereen to King's Landing, but I suspect Tywin & Co. would hear about it long before the fleet reached Blackwater Bay.

Lysa's brother Edmure is still alive, so he's technically still Lord of the Riverlands, though i think Walder Frey thinks of himself as Lord of the Riverlands now in fact, if not in name (he alluded to that when speaking to Roose Bolton after the Red Wedding). While Sansa's identity remains secret, he can't claim the North since his niece Elaine -- or whatever variation of Elaine it was. The Seven forbid we ever meet someone named Thomas or Peter or Edward or Catherine or Lisa -- has no claim to the North.

"I'm warning you I'm going to scream when my husband makes love to me. I'm going to scream so loudly they'll hear me clear across the Narrow Sea" Say what you will about Lysa, but she doesn't make idle threats.

Bran wargs Hodor into breaking Locke's neck Jon tag teams with one of Craster's wives to put a sword through the back of Karl's head Arya pokes the Hound with Needle and barely dents his armor (that was hilarious). Sansa is practicing her manipulation skills with Aunt Lysa . Meanwhile Jaime is a coronation wallflower, Tywin is clipping coupons and Cersei is actually being nice to people. Talk about pathetic.

Joffrey killed actual doves when he sliced open his wedding pie with his Valyrian steel sword, but now he's dead and Sansa is still alive, so who knows about the foreshadowing. Besides, doves fly, just like the ones that flew away that Joffrey didn't kill. Another way to look at it is the Moon Door is the asshole of the Eyrie. In that case, Sansa won't be the shift going down that hole. All bets are off, however, if Arya and Sansa reunite at the Eyrie.

A bit of a chicken-and-egg question, that. Is Lysa crazy because she's gaga for Littlefinger? Or is Lysa gaga for Littlefinger because she's crazy?

And now the Stark thread had almost twice as many replies as the Lannister thread, so the Lannisters must be twice as boring. More importantly, the Starks have as much gold in their gold mines as the Lannisters do in theirs: Zero!

Lysa must have really hated her sister. So much for family meaning everything to her. It's the thin mountain air. Not enough oxygen getting into their heads.

Now I'm wondering if Littlefinger is Lord Robin's father. If Lysa is going to copy Cersei, she may as well go whole hog.

So the Lannister gold mines are dry? Perhaps Daenerys would rethink her decision if she knew that little (golden) nugget. I wonder if Littelfinger already knew. It would be yet another reason for him to switch from the Lannisters to the Tyrells. Wife (Lysa/Cersei) in arranged marriage kills husband (Jon/Robert). I guess it's realistic given that neither Lysa nor Cersei had a choice in the marriage -- though Cersei did tell Ned Stark how happy she was during the wedding ceremony -- but I'm always a little disappointed when an author repeats the same plot line. So now I'm wondering who is Lord Robin's father: Jon Arryn or Littlefinger? And Lysa must really hate Catelyn

A look that says, "Not only am I so rich I can afford a silk jacket, I'm so rich I don't care if I have to buy another if I ruin this one sticking some ugly ass pin into it". No wonder the Silk King of Qarth told Daenerys to get lost.

I thought there were taunting Dany and her anti-slavery crusade by having the crucified slave children literally point the way to Meeren as if the masters were saying "This is the way to Mereen, bitch! What are you going to do about it?"

Jaime as Sonny works for me. I guess I was thinking more about Sonny dying on the causeway and how one of his in-laws was partly responsible. Plus, Sonny got pissed at Tom when the Godfather was away. Tommen is far worse. He's the Anti-7 True, but I really wanted to say "In 10 years, the Lannister family will be completely legitimate."

I agree. Technically it was Mormont's responsibility, but I don't know if he can be blamed all that much. Beggars can't be choosers, as they say, and the Night's Watch must beg for every man they've got. Bonus if the guy knows how to fight before he joins the Watch. I have a theory, based on no evidence, that the Targaryens are indirectly responsible for the decline of the Night's Watch. I'm guessing when the 7 kingdoms were separate kingdoms they fought each other a lot. Winners get to take some of the losers' land and marry their daughters; (some of the) losers go the wall. Some might have even joined just to stay out of the fray, figuring life at the Wall fighting the occasional Wildling was in some ways an easier life than being at a frequent, if not near constant war time footing. Unifying the 7 Kingdoms -- or 6 followed by Dorne sometime later -- would have eliminated all or much of that. A reasonably powerful Targaryen King, or at least one with a strong Hand, doesn't want his underlings fighting among one another. Less war and strife means fewer "opportunities" for knights and soldiers to sign up for the Wall.

Interesting to see how Locke's infiltration of the Night's Watch parallels that of Jon Snow with the Wildlings Asks to join new group and switch allegiance to them after (purportedly) breaking vows or duties owed to another group. First gives idealistic reason for joining new group, then gives more plausible sounding second reason. While still new to the group, joins team on a dangerous behind the lines mission against the enemy, the difference being that Jon was drafted whereas Lock volunteered I hope this is ringing some bells for Jon.

The littlest wight. You make her sound so cute. Sam may have killed one of Gilly's brothers, if that's a "Crasterling" Walker.

I suppose The Godfather was inevitable Tywin as Don Corleone, the Godfather Tyrion as Tom Hagen, the consigliere Cersei as Fredo, the troublemaking moron who thinks she's smart and resents being passed over Joffrey as Sonny, the hot head The Mountain as Luca Brasi - By the Seven I hope he sleeps with the fishes (in the Sicilian way, not the rape Tully women way) I guess this means Tommen is Michael and Margaery is Kay (in 10 years, the Lannister family will be completely legitimate) Littlefinger as Tessio Pycelle as Clemenza

Flying fucks are hard to come by in a land without dragons. I think Tyrion loves playing the game. He said as much to both Shae and Varys.