You know the worst thing about Mondays?

Waiting for the US to get the latest episode and having to wait for the write up.

Personally I love spoilers. They just add to the experience and give me a handy signposts so I can watch out for other stuff going on.

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Swim. Overbike. Walk.

Looks like a certain GOT equation is true.

Lyanna that little minx!





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Not exactly heavy handed but some strong foreshadowing going on in that TOJ scene (flashback). Purists are grumbling that the Sword of the Morning was not wielding Dawn--but I thought the duel wielding swords (albeit kinda World of Warcraftish) came off real well. Luke Roberts nailed Ser Arthur Dayne.

So yeah R+L most probably = JS(T)

I feel sorry for Osha and Rickon.

Perhaps Smalljohn is playing a 'long game' to get inside WF? At least i hope so.

Looks like the Battle of the Bastards (or Bastard Bowl) is on for E9.

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Steve

I would have liked to see Aryia, errrrr The Girl with No Name, put a little more hurt in that bitch before the Man with No Name intervened.

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The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Strong with the Force, a Girl can be

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

Inheriting the throne doesn't seem to be helping lord Ramsay too much. While he may fashion a fiefdom, he ain't going to have loyal vassals. Instead, it will be a coalition of mutual interest, with no real ties that bind.

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"In the world I see you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You'll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You'll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Towers. And when you look down, you'll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying stripes of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway." T Durden

I've mixed up book vs. show in my memory, but the Greatjon was either killed or captured at the Red Wedding, correct? The Bolton's are obviously complicit in that. Also, the Smalljon knows Ramsay killed Roose, and kinslaying is a big no-no. So I just can't see the Umbers as being on board, although it's hard to explain them offering up Rickon. I expect it's either a ruse, or they switch allegiances.

Bastard Bowl. Beautiful.

So no one has addressed who Jon Snow's parents are. Melissandre keeps calling him a prince. She said last night, that Stannis was the wrong prince, and Jon is the right one. Which means he has royal blood.

So parents, who ever could they be... I'm going to Eddards dead beloved sister Lyanna (she has dark hair) as Mom. And Daddy option 1: Mad King (whichever Taergaryn he was), as the story goes he kidnapped and raped her.... OR Daddy option 2: Eddie's buddy, King Robert Baratheon, who was in-love with her too, and maybe got to her before crazy king did... Remember, Baratheon house has dark hair, and its how we know Tommen, Jeoffrey and Marcella we not real Baratheons. What color hair does Jon Zombie have???

The screaming we heard in the tower last night was Lyanna giving birth (and probably dying in the process). It's why Eddard takes Jon off to Winterfell to raise him. His sister's kid and claim to the throne....

Danerys and Jon team up to fight the wallkers. We know 2 things kill walkers... dragon glass and Valeryian steel. And they are gonna need a shitload of dragon glass. Who has some dragons to make dragon glass? Who has the right sword?

I just figured it was the rough replacement for the storyline in the books that got Jon stabbed. Jon will use this to get his mojo back and finally take care of Ramsey. I get this sense that Ramsey doesn't make it past this season. At some point the family Stark (including Jon) will have to reconvene in Winterfell before the last battle.

Jon's parents will be Rhaegar and Lyanna and (R+L=J). FYI, Rhaegar, who was rumored to have kidnapped and raped her, was not the Mad King, he was the Mad King's son (oldest brother to Dany), who most people held in high regard.

Oh, okay, I thought Rhaegar was the Mad King. My bad. Going to the wiki to learn more about that crazy dragon family.

I think at this point in the show they are pretty much hitting us over the head that Jon is the son of Auntie Stark and Taergaryn.

Now, how about that rumor theory that Tyrion is also a Taergaryn...from the rape of mamma Lanister and one of the Taergaryns...who also died in child-birth, like Jon's mom. There's three dragons right...one for Dany/Jon/Tyrion. Tyrion already started to work on his bonding and they didn't eat him. I want to see that little dude riding a dragon and unleashing hell from above....with a wine glass in his hand.

Along with obsidian and valeryian steel, I expect that dragon fire kills the zombies also.

On the big story arc on where all this is headed....it just seems to predictable and traditional that Jon and Daenerys team up to battle the white walkers. That is just too classic fantasy story arc. I hope that is not where this is headed. If it is, it almost downgrades all these other plot lines to irrelevance and for naught. What was the point in all the Kings landing and other House hijinx and politics if Jon and Dany come in, team up, and kill the whitewalkers, which makes them king/queen by default. Seems weird and a waste of all we have seen for the rest of Westeros.

If Jon and Dany to hook up and that is where this is heading, I'm betting that Jon dies at the end and Dany is left with a bun in the oven, or they both die and their offspring is ferreted off to begin the cycle for the rulership of the kingdom again...never ending circle for power....which is what the show is really about. Not the white walkers or dragons.

I like the crazy theory that Jon and Dany actually square off against each other in war. The other Westeros and Easteros kindoms are split between them based on loyalty, etc...

I like it even better if the whitewalkers are completely mis-understood and their resurgence is part of an ancient pact between the king of the North and the Others (dark elves) that they would arise and come to the aid of the Northerner King in a time of need. So the white walkers actually are there to help and fight for Jon.

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Bookwise the Umber's remained loyal to house Stark. At the Red Wedding Smalljon Umber defended Rob Stark as his personal bannerman and got shot down via crossbow bolts making a run for his sword belt. Greatjon Umber got himself captured. I'm hoping that Umber loyalty to House Stark is what D&D are hinting at when (HBO-wise) they have 'their' Smalljon refuse to kneel to Ramsey and he gifts them Osha and Rickon to get inside WF. That's my hope anywhoo. Of course the other side is that he's just another dick who's trying to make a deal with Ramsey that's going to get Rickon and Osha flayed and Smalljon killed. i hope not :-(

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Steve

Yes, I've heard the Tyrion is the 3rd Taergaryen thing too. The dragons not eating him... good clue. The visual of him on a dragon with a wineglass is hysterical.

His parents... he must be from a Lannister momma. No way would Tywin keep him around unless he was not important. Tywin hated him, so Tywin was either jealous he was a dragon boy with legit claim, and / also because he was a product of rape / affair which killed his wife. Tyrion is much older than Dany, but Rhaeger was much older than her too, so Tyrion could be the son of Aerys or Rhaegar (who apparently like raping a lot).

Or hmm, maybe the old meister dude up at the wall who died a few seasons ago had an affair with Mrs. Lannister, then escaped to Castle Black when the Lannisters took over Kings Landing.

The last scene is Jon & Daenrys sitting in a booth in a diner in Jersey

He orders a Western omelette, she says "You know nothing, Jon Snow" and Journey starts playing in the background

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

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it's not just the Bastard Bowl. We're gonna get Clegane Bowl. Book readers are well aware (it is known) that 'Elder Brother' and his group of pacifist monks nurse a horribly wounded knight back to health. Recall that Arya told the waif that she left the Hound badly wounded--not dead.

So much like the three dragon rider speculation stated above--it's widely believed we'll see the Hound vs the Mountain (aka Clegan Bowl).

If you follow the HBO show fan sites you'll know that Ian 'Cocksucker' McShane is gonna make a one episode appearance as Elder Brother whose Order nurses a badly wounded knight back to health.

i believe it's gonna start this story thread in the next episode.


The North Remembers!

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Steve

I fear that the head of Shaggydog on a hook doesn't bode well for your hopes. From what I understand direwolves are pretty rare, we've not seen any apart from the Stark ones, so that would seem to be fairly solid proof that Umber has genuinely turned them in.

I think the Tyrion Lannister theory has merit. Thinking back to anytime Tywin and Tyrion talked, I don't recall Tywin ever saying Tyrion was his son, only that Tyrion was a Lannister.

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The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Yep, I'm also liking the theory that the white walkers are linked to the Starks (and have only come out since they're no longer wardens of the north). Their ability to greensee and their continued link to the weirdwood/ old gods helps this theory. I would not be suprised if they helped reestablish the Starks in the north.

I'm definitely loving the Jon vs Daenrys / west vs east face off theory.

Tyrion? Who knows, maybes.

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Swim. Overbike. Walk.

In the book, there is a character named Young Griff that gets introduced in book 5 as being Prince Aegon, the 3rd dragon.
http://awoiaf.westeros.org/...ryen_(son_of_Rhaegar)


Now what they are going to do with this in the show... that might get skipped over since most of the last season differed a lot from the book...

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ishi no ue ni san nen | Perseverance will win in the end. | Blog | @nebmot | Strava | Instagram |

One of the reasons I think the Others and white walkers will join with Jon is that there is not even remotely enough backstory and history for us to buy in and care about them being the main villain that the entirety of Westeros rallies to defeat. What is their (the Others) motivation to invade and conquer? I just don't buy it. They don't seem to be motivated by power and they already have all the land they could want. Nope. I can buy that they join in with a side in a war to assist, but for them to be the main foe, there is some serious backstory and fleshing out of their whole world that would need to happen in order for it to be done right and believable.


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I think the unknown nature of the white walkers is what makes them such an attractive 'other'. They're beyond history, the stuff of legends and probably beyond the motivations of men also (power, land, treasure etc).

If it were just zombies, I'd be pretty meh, the seek live to kill and feed as in the classic zombie sense. But the white walkers... Who knows.

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Swim. Overbike. Walk.

I'm assuming Griff and the Golden Company have been skipped in the TV show, in which case presumably that plot line isn't going to go anywhere in the books either. Seems that if they were going to introduce them then they'd have needed to do it already.

Kind of a shame that the TV show is now giving spoilers to the books, not just in terms of what's shown on screen, but what's being omitted. We know the show's producers have been told by GRRM what the final ending is, so fairly safe to assume that any plotline from the books which is left out of the TV show (Catelyn Stark being resurrected is another notable one) is a dead end in the books as well. Mind you, could just be that the timings are off I guess - I thought after the last series that they were quietly dropping the whole Ironborn plotline, but with Euron Greyjoy suddenly making an appearance last week and the fleet at Meereen being burnt I guess the Iron Fleet may end up being relevant again.

That sounds like the best possible ending. Years later after reading a very detailed blog explaining how that is in fact Tony getting killed and how the entire thing was set up I really enjoy the last 5 minutes of that show. But the rest of the last two episodes felt too rushed. Like they needed to spread it out a little more rather then just pack everything at once.

I agree. It's fun to watch that again and look for more clues. Also, the parking fiasco really ratcheted up the tension when watching it originally, but now I see it for the mundane that most of life is. Life was just happening, and then it wasn't, at least for Tony. If Meadow had parked the car on the first attempt, could she have gotten in place in time to scream or warn her dad? Who knows. That ending has really grown on me.