Ariadne

I loved the slight grimace that came over her face before she offered the queenship to Margaery, I only noticed it on rewatch, great acting from Lena Headey - if only Cersei were always like this - so entertaining. It was very clever to identify what each of the judges wanted most. Margaery - being THE Queen (only if Mace finds Tyrion guilty of course) Tywin - ensuring the Lannister family legacy (by meekly agreeing to marry Loras - after the trial of course) Oberyn - she appeals to his desire for vengeance for his sister and bonds over the love they have for their children

Poor Hodor. I was genuinely creeped out by the look on his face when he was attacking Locke, but then I realised that wasnt Hodor it was Bran. When Bran unwarged him the innocent Hodor was back and horrified and confused. I hope Bran doesn't warg Hodor again, I have a bad feeling Bran may become addicted to being able to walk around and be strong.

I have some speculation about Robin Arryn. What if he is actually Littlefinger's son? Lysa mentioned that they had their wedding night long ago - so they've slept together before. Robin has the same hair colour as Littlefinger and Baelish seemed genuinely affectionate with the boy. His plan could be to get rid of Lysa and rule the vale as Robin's 'regent', then marrying Sansa to Robin would unite the North and the Vale together and if anything happened to the Tully brother that the Frey's have prisoner (can't remember his name) Sansa and Robin could be co-heirs to the Riverlands as well. That's quite a powerful alliance he's putting together. Just some spec, but he must have a plan in order to have 'everything'.

I think Tywin believes Tyrion poisoned Joffrey and wants him found guilty and executed for it. This is the perfect opportunity to get rid of Tyrion once and for all and when Tyrion's dead he can force Jamie out of the Kingsguard, he'll have Tommen doing whatever he says - you don't need a Kingsguard's consent to forced retirement. This way he finally gets the heir to Casterly Rock he wanted all along. And when a King is murdered, someone has to be found guilty, whether they actually did it or not.

Awesome post Pallas! I can only agree with everyone about how ridiculous the poisoning plot turned out to be. I based my theory of Olenna trying to poison Cersei on what I saw in the actual episode, there's no way she could have poisoned that cup. It was about 3 metres from her after Margaery put it down, she would have to have thrown it - and what if Margaery hadn't put it near her?. I can only presume it made more sense in the books and it was a poorly directed and edited scene. Praying for Meera, praying for Hodor and I don't think Jojen will live through the season - he's completely surplus to requirements even now and especially when Bran gets to the guy with the tree. Jon and Bran aren't going to meet, no way will the show give us a Stark reunion.

Thanks for all your nice posts guys! Hi, Pallas. It's an enormous risk either way. And I think you underestimate the threat Cersei poses to both Margaery and Loras. The threat to Loras is immediate - she is not going to marry him. Waiting till she gets to Highgarden will be too late, Loras could very well be dead by then, there's no way Cersei could bear being shipped away from King's Landing - when would she see her kids again or Jaime? And if Tywin had been killed as well? Just like that, the Tyrell's would have been the power behind the throne, just as the Lannister's were during Robert's reign. It's worth the risk and Olenna must hope that Margaery can control Joffrey long enough to get a son. But my major problem with the theory that Olenna wanted to poison Joffrey is that she had no opportunity. When did she poison Joffrey's wine? I'm quite happy to be proven wrong if someone can show me how she does it. I've carefully watched again and again and the poisoned wine had to have come from the decanter in front of Cersei. How could Olenna possibly have known that Joffrey would drink from it before anyone else did? If you can show me how she does it, please do.

Hi, I'm a long-time lurker, I'm usually happy to read others speculation and I've been reading everyone's theories and I thought the theory that Olenna poisoned Joffrey made the most sense from what everyone has said and the screen shots people have posted. So today when I had a chance to re-watch I expected I would see this by watching carefully - but I can't see how Olenna had the opportunity to poison Joffrey. When rewatching, I can see her seeming to pull something from Sansa's necklace and I can see that one of the stones is then missing in the next shot. So I totally buy that Olenna is the poisoner and that Dontos is her conspirator. However, she can't have poisoned Joffrey's wine. Directly after talking to Sansa she walks past the tables to take her seat - this must have been when she does it. She has no opportunity later. When the cup is placed near her just before Joffrey starts choking, it's still too far for her to reach, at least a metre and a half away. She would have had to get up out of her chair and walk to the bride and grooms table to poison it - which people would have seen, everyone was watching. The only opportunity she had was earlier, when she walks past the tables. She didn't poison Joffrey's cup - he laters empties it over Tyrion's head. She didn't poison Joffrey and Margaery's decanter - it is never drunk from. The wine which must have poisoned Joffrey came from the decanter directly in front of Queen Cersei. I think the intended target of the poisoning was (noted alcoholic) the Queen Regent, maybe with bonus dead Tywin (and unfortunate collateral damage dead Tommen). Tyrion and Sansa have their own decanter. If you watch carefully, the wine that Tyrion pours into Joffrey's cup is from directly in front of Cersei, not the wine decanter at the main table meant for the bride and groom. And when carefully rewatching I think I can see Olenna move her hand over the wine decanter as she walks past it directly after talking to Sansa. My theory is that Olenna wanted Cersei dead, not Joffrey. Cersei is a major threat to both her grandchildren. She's jealous and bitter of Margaery and very well might do something to her. She is also a major threat to Loras - she's so sure she won't have to marry him, if I were Olenna I'd worry she'd have him killed. Not to mention she didn't want the marriage in the first place, what use is it marrying the heir to Highgarden to a woman possibly too old to have children? I think the plan was for Sansa and/or Tyrion to take the fall. There could be no suspicion that the Tyrells were involved (though I believe this was Olenna acting by herself) when the Queen Regent and possibly the Hand of the King are poisoned. That's why the whole necklace palaver went on and also why she organised Dontos to get Sansa out of there. With Sansa missing she would be the obvious suspect and it has the bonus of getting Sansa away from King's Landing. Joffrey of course spoiled all her plans with forcing Tyrion to be his cupbearer, before Cersei or Tywin can drink the wine (I noticed no one drank the wine from the decanter in the mean time) Tyrion grabs the nearest decanter at the time, the one in front of Cersei and fills it. Joffrey takes a small sip from the cup, before cutting open the pie, it musn't immediately take an effect but after tasting the pie he does look a bit funny and mentions it's dry, when he has more of the wine you start to see the full effect happen. Anyway, that's my theory and I think it makes more sense based on what we see in the episode.