dragonsbite

I like the symbology of all the sword-swapping that has happened in GOT for the famous Valyrian steel swords, implying how Westeros is changing: Brienne & Jaime have the Stark blade (Ice remade into two swords) Jon (the Stark bastard) has the Mormont blade Jorah Mormont has the Tarly blade* However, I'm concerned about the fate of all those swords once their handlers die on the battlefield. Will anyone else pick them up or will the Valyrian steel swords end up buried in the snow? If they're just lost in the snow, what was the purpose of talking so much about that special steel? *Is Heart's Bane the same size that Ice was? Sure looked huge.

In the "War Council" scene, they did talk about the dragons being too busy to protect Bran. And I'm pretty sure that Jon said "we" when referring to the dragons -- so I assumed that everyone knew he would be a-dragonback for the fight.

Sam: That's what death is then. Forgetting. Except... The North Remembers.

I too loved the hug. More significantly, though, it showed Dany that she's not the number one woman in a lot of people's lives -- even though she's 'The Queen'. It's not the way she expects people to react; like she's had people react in her previous conquests. Looks like she's going to have a lot of truths to digest soon (besides the big one about Jon).

My initial thoughts: Foreshadowing in Tyrion’s statement of killing Cersei as a WW? Penis measuring between a puzzled Jaime and Tormund. Awesome. I actually teared up when Jaime knighted Brienne. (And I won't clap for Tinkerbell nor cry for terms of endearment.) Arya playing game of faces with Gendry to find out if he’s slept with anyone before. (Well, that's just cheating) What does that song about Jenny foretell?

I wondered the same thing! 1) I figured that after the Battle of the Bastards, the winning team either killed or imprisoned any of Ramsey's soldiers at Winterfell that refused to accept the new leadership. And the soldiers probably were smart enough to join the new Stark army. 2) Did Arya tell the Frey women to release Edmure from the dungeon? Probably the daughter that he married would -- particularly if Jaime was telling the truth about Edmure having fathered a son with her. Would any of the other women have done that on their own? They were in Riverrun, right? Would the women want to continue the Frey family behavior and teach the little Walder sons, which Arya didn't kill, to take revenge on the Starks? Would they run home to The Twins? Or were they just happy to be rid of old Walder? (like much of the rest of Westeros). D&D do a poor job of following up on things like this. Other examples include the Reeds. Just dropping Meera after all she did for Bran. She was important in the story; doubly so, since her father knows what happened at the Tower of Joy.

(bolding is mine) Is it possible that Bran sees that, to defeat the NK, Jon must be their leader? Bran's first real statements in the episode were about defeating the NK and putting aside the petty squabbles. Also, regarding his bad timing of sending a bereaved Samwell to speak to Jon, clearly Bran is still suffering from a lack of empathy/sensitivity. His brain must be full of so much information that he can't process that as well as people's emotions (or his own).

I'm so sick of the Sansa vs Dany debate. Please accept that neither side is going to agree with the other. On a more interesting topic, can we speculate on the weapon that Arya asked Gendry to create? What was that? A long knife? A short spear? Why would she want something that comes apart? Or was her drawing just implying that it's part dragonglass and part (metal/wood) shaft? I thought it was designed to come apart -- like the knives soldiers added to their rifles in previous times.

But next week, when this comes up, Brienne will be there to set them straight. She had the story straight from Jaime. (Tyrion knows, too, but no one's going to easily take the word of Jaime's brother.)

Did Bran sit outside all night, while waiting for his old friend? Because it was dusk/nighfall-ish when he spoke with Sam and daylight when Jaime arrived.

Fewer....heh heh. I'll never hear that word again without thinking of Stannis.

Why is Arya front-and-center? I would have expected Jon and Dany to be there. Or at last, having Jon adjacent to the three siblings. Are there hints in here (thinking of the Battlestar Galactica last supper poster).

Why doesn't Jamie have a sword? I really expected him to be holding Widow's Wail.

Regardless whether Jaime is wearing Stark-style armor, he's most likely at Winterfell -- those depressingly dark interiors are unmistakable.

True dat. And yet it combines with the existing theory Bran = NK, but with a twist. Instead of warging into the NK during the fight or actually warging into the original NK, Bran instead is able to raise the Stark dead (or warg them?) to defend his home from the NK. Not sure whether this would be a last stand, so much as making the Stark dead "hold the door."