hobbers

Can someone explain to me where exactly Bran and co are heading, or what to make of his 'tree-D' vision? Does the dragon shadow mean Danaerys (have I finally got this right?) will be getting her arse over the Narrow Sea or was it a flashback to Ye Olden Targ Times? Bran's crew seem to be trying to do the complete opposite to that wildling in s01 who was going "as far south as south goes". Hope they bump into a few other characters soon, be it Mance or that deserter rapist at Craster's, What was Sam thinking just letting them go? Just realised I said I wanted Bran to bump into a rapist. Yeah, scratch that, Hodor's Hodoring would haunt my dreams thereafter.

....Ah crud. I believe I have been spoiled upthread somewhat. (Don't worry the comment has been deleted) Ah well, I watched 2 seasons with the knowledge that Robb died so I'm used to watching the show with spoilers in my head. Wish I had lasted longer than 2 episodes though. Fair play to all those who have come over from the TWoP thread and have been going since season 1 or 2, keep up the good speculation. I'll be back if these events happen early on but I think that to be unlikely. Best of luck to you all!

I'm not so sure Jaime is going to be in a great position to help his brother out. Remember in s04e01 that other knight was giving out saying he was always by the king's side? Now Jaime comes back and BAM! He's gonna take some of the rap for this as well. I am just wondering now how Tywin is gonna go, as I'm sure this is his last season as well. Tyrells and Lannisters headed for full on fight.

Wow. Gone so early! First time they've really done this. That end face wasn't pretty and to top it all we have a whodunit on our hands. (Well we actually don't cause it was clearly Benjen Stark, the sneaky bastard). Seriously though, necklace fool had to be in on this, probably put something in that food. Overall I thought this was a really good episode with interesting interactions happening all over place. Papa Roose's homecoming gave a needed refreshment to Ramsey's character (he's talking to people without torturing them!) and sets up what the North is going to be about this season, which was a complete wildcard beforehand. And watch out Rickon and John, Locke is coming!!

So is the general expectation that we will finally see the wedding tonight? It's been under preparation since s02e10! Since then we've had Robb marrying Talisa, Sansa being engaged to Loras then engaged to Tyrion, then marrying Tyrion, Edmure marrying Frey girl. This one has been a long time coming. The only thing is, I always expected that something big would happen in this wedding, but given last year's massacre and seeing as the wedding will either be this or the next episode I'm starting to think it might be a (Westeros relatively) dull affair. They could focus on the characters we missed last week. Can we please see Edmure? I am having visions of him getting the full-Theon treatment by a Frey sadist!

It's been a while but I thought I'd throw my two pence in with regards to some topics mentioned: RE: Getting Sansa out of KL. Someone suggested Brienne, Shae and NecklaceFool team up. What a rag-tag bunch of no hopers! We have Brienne who will be lucky to last the next episode because she is being noble and dutiful in King's Landing! A cardinal sin! Then we have Shae, who when smuggling Sansa out in the dead of night will probably spontaneously shout "I AM SHAE THE FUNNY WHORE!" and get them all caught. And then we have our bumbling drunk. A great team. RE: Primary Entertainment. What sort of madness does Joffrey have in store for us? The worst thing I can imagine is that someone has found Gendry, knows him to be Robert's bastard and he is going to get a Clegane 'bisection' as somebody so beautifully put it above. RE: Stannis. This is a difficult one for me. He was talked about a lot in season 1, resulting in me really looking forward to him. And he was a bit shit. I like the dynamic he and Davos (Daavos?) have together and enjoyed his scenes with his daughter and wife last season, but overall he just needs to get out more. They say no man is an island but for s03 two men and a red witch certainly were one. Stannis, Davos and Melisandre simply need to interact with different sets of characters from the show, which is why I pray (but do not expect) Stannis to get to the wall early. Some of his best stuff came when he crossed plots with Renly.

Initially when I saw Joffrey's statue I thought it was of some old Targaryen king since I associated, probably from modern times, that statues are made largely in honour of the fallen. Stillshimpy, the crypts are a very good shout with regards to statues and the dead, this could be a subtle hint at Joffrey's demise. *crosses fingers*. A character like Joffrey is set up for eventual death and he has lasted far longer than I thought he would. This could be his season, though I'd like to see him kill Tywin first in a stupid attempt to gain more power, and inadvertently considerably weaken his reign in the process. If the king is to perish, question is who would be the perpetrator? This flash-bang Martell? No, too obvious. I would also be disappointed if it were Tyrion. I'll go with our newly re-appeared necklace fool, simply because it would be brilliant to see Joffrey's face as the stumbling drunk slides the blade into his flesh in one last attempt at heroism/retribution. Pallas Having just re-watched that scene, I totally agree with you, very evocative. The fact the show, now in season 4, still makes events of season 1 resonate so well is testament to all involved.

So we've finally seen some Dorne representation. And he's batsh*t (pigsh*t?) crazy! Knowing the way this show works he'll probably pick a fight not with Tywin or Joffrey but with Jaime, who has just boarded the redemption train, as people are calling it. Maybe Jaime will lose his other hand, we've already seen Martell is fond of aiming for the wrist. Re: Janos and Thorne. The only way that council could have been more random is if Benjen Stark himself was sitting there, with no mention that he'd ever been gone. Also, John for Lord Commander: a terrible idea. He has shown now on many occasion a failure to speak according to his audience, a skill you would think a leader should possess. Here he called wildlings freefolk, how did he think Thorne would react to that? I also remember him choosing ill words in front of Craster and Mance. So maybe John for Lord Commander only if Sam is his spin doctor. Finally, Jaime probably could have just wrote lavishly in that book about himself as commander but (d'oh!) he's lost his writing hand as well as his swordhand.

abelard, this is definitely the season where Sansa finally gets out of the capital but I also can't see it happening without a price. I can see Brienne (who is in for Ned Stark KL experience if you ask me) getting Sansa out of King's Landing, but again we're left with an Arya situation of where would anyone take her? I'm not so sure Arya will go to Braavos as much as Braavos will keep coming to Arya. With regards to 'magic'-vs-'f*ck magic' you can put me firmly in the 'f*ck magic' corner though I'm aware it's a losing side. I wonder what side the Westros faith and the maesters are on? I am a bit confused about these two organisations, are they linked in any way? I've rewatched some early s02 eps there and there's this scene between Luwin and Bran where Luwin is poo-pooing magic and says only a handful of maesters even attempt the special magic chain or whatever it is so I put them in the 'f*ck magic' corner too. But if they are linked with the Westeros faith then maybe they're pro magic as any religious organisation thrives on perceived miracles. Luwin goes on to say dragons, giants and children of the forest are all long gone. He has been proved wrong on the first two, who are these children of the woods and will we ever see them? I am going with yes. (Or perhaps we've already seen them? Could be what the walkers call their animated corpses). Has anyone else ever mentioned them?

A return of Benjen would be fantastic! I have all but given up on it though. To Thorne and Slynt, meh, I'll take or leave them. (The idea of Thorne aimlessly marauding around Westeros with a completely faded map, quizzical look on his face and a hand bouncing around his neck ala Jaime is too funny). I'm actually not that confident about Stannis ending up at the wall. I can imagine a scene where John and Mance are locked in battle, a horn sounds in the distance and we're meant to think it's Stannis but it actually ends up being the walkers. Stannis' plotline seriously needs to mingle with someone else's though, it felt far too static and isolated last year. I think guessing where Arya will end up this year is akin to throwing a dart blindfolded and guessing where it'll end up. I know she's wandering the same area as Blackfish, and characters have a habit of bumping into each other in the woods. The Sansa/Hound interactions can be seen as a counterpoint to the Arya/Hound ones. It serves the purpose of highlighting the differences in the two Stark daughters and also keeps a connection between the two via the character of the Hound. I agree stillshimpy. Jaime will have outgrown Cersei, I'm looking forward to some conflict on this front. PS: Is Catelyn's brother staying with Walder Frey or being brought to King's Landing to pledge fealty or something? Am I the only one wanting to see more of him (and his extremely attractive wife)? Their awkward conversations would be terrific.

abelard , my reasoning for a Tywin death is as you say. This show thrives on instability and killing Tywin is needed in order to throw the Lannisters into chaos. As for him and Arya, there's as much as 10 eps for that to happen (how close is Arya to King's Landing?) but I wouldn't count on it. Even with the knowledge that Robb would die at some stage I was convinced he'd survive the wedding cause he had to see Theon again. He didn't. Please, I still have nightmares. The weirdest thing was, only after a split second glance into a box which could have contained anything, Balon was like "yep that's definitely my son's dick"...

Hello fellow unspoiled posters and theorists! I have been wanting a place to cast my views for a while now and discovered the TWoP thread just before the start of season 3 but refrained myself from posting because I was infuriatingly told after finishing season 1 that Robb Stark bit it. (Imagine being told this bit of news minutes after the 'King in the North' scene!) I now believe I am free to ponder unperturbed. I would like to outline some of my views/predictions about the show: At one point my 3 favourite characters were Ned, Renly and Robb but now I'm not sure who I like anymore other than Gendry (minor though he is), though I am not a fan at all of Danaris' plotline, despite having a man-crush on Iain Glen. I love the complexities of characters such as Jaime and Theon, I think they are impeccably handled, but I wasn't a fan of how Robb and John's love lifes were written. My predictions are as follows: There are 4 untouchables in this show as far as I can see, who will not die until at least the final series. These are Arya, Danaris, Tyrion and John Snow. If any of these die in season 4 I will eat a hat. In terms of deaths I predict: Tywin. I like the idea of Joffrey doing this as without Tywin his hold on the throne diminishes considerably (Joffrey Shooting himself in the foot) Eegrit (sp?). Possibly at the hands of John himself or a Night's Watch baddy. One of Ramsey/Joffrey. I count one psychopath too many. Many, many more, though I don't want to make my post any longer.