[BOOK SPOILERS] What your non-reader friends/family thought and their predictions

[The Prince of Newcastle]

My mates wife loves Bran. She wishes the rest of the show was more magic-y and less bitchy lol.

She actually said "oh no" when Tyrion was issuing a stone cold stunner to Shae.

She said Stannis was ok... I was like bitch please.

She didn't know why Tyrion killed his dad. She knows it's because of how he treats him, but she thought Tyrion should have just escaped.

She said Arya was "cold" and "I thought she was besties with The Hound now?"

I explained how changes for the show have no effect on the overall plot lolol.

[piles]

I got a text last night simply saying 'CHARLES DANCE IS STAUNCH LABOUR, HOW DARE THEY OFF HIM'...

[Hodor's Dragon]

This was my husband's reaction as well. He didn't understand why/how Tyrion got into Tywin's chamber when he was supposed to be escaping...thought they had forgotten a scene or something! I had to explain the way it happens in the books for it to make sense to him.

He also thinks the Hound will be coming back.

It really didn't make sense the way they did it. Tyrion is escaping, then he sees this nondescript staircase, then he's poking his head up through a trap door, then he's wandering around in some room, never with any indication whatsoever of where he's going and why.

Leaving out Tysha was a bad strategic decision, but leaving out Varys telling Tyrion how to get to the Hand's quarters was just ham-handed story-telling. There was no need for the viewers to ever be mystified in that scene about what Tyrion was doing or where he was.

[cronnyberg]

Before me & my unsullied GF started I said there were loads of things I was expecting to happen this episode, and afterwards she asked If they all happened and I said, "everything but one, but I'm not telling you what it was" :devil:

Anyway, she's really not that bothered by Bran, she thinks he is too entitled (friend just died for him, first thing he asks about is his legs);

She's still not that impressed by Stannis, she thinks he is irredeemable after burning his loyal subjects :bang: ;

She was really sad about the dragons;

She really liked the Brienne-Hound fight and after we talked about it decided the show version made more sense;

She loved the Tyrion scenes, and after i spoke about Tysha she didn't seem that bothered and thought it worked regardless;

She wished Arya would have put the hound out of his misery because they were 'bezzies by the end', but she's excited to see her in Bravos;

Overall she loved it, as did I :cool4:

[Angmar]

"Oh Kahleesi, she's such a badass, when is she coming to Westeros?"

[Mistress of Lemon Cakes]

Both my coworkers generally liked it though they both said something along the lines of "but something felt flat and off ... especially with the Tyrion stuff."

So I explained the omitted Tysha parts and they were both like "ohhhhhh, wow ... that would have been so much more of a punch to the gut. Why didn't they keep it?" A question for the philosophers for sure ...

I also told them before the episode aired that my reception of the finale would be entirely based on whether or not we got a certain omitted scene, and they could tell by the way I reacted to their reactions that it never happened in the show. So they ended up asking me about it and I told them about Lady Stoneheart. And they both were like "Why ... would they not end the episode that way? That would have been so bad ass and amazing."

Another question for the philosophers.

[Young Nan]

"Oh Kahleesi, she's such a badass, when is she coming to Westeros?"

Did you say "when the sun rises in the west and sets in the east. When the oceans run dry and the mountains blow in the wind like leaves. Then, and not before." ;)

[Indigocell]

- My mom was sad when Jojen got stabbed, saying it was such a shame after all they had been through together.

- She also thought it was strange that Dany is supposed to be the savior of slaves, but actually put her own dragons in chains.

- Ygritte's funeral pyre also made her said, I told her about how she died in the books and "is this a proper castle now?" and made her even more sad.

- She loved the fight with the Hound and Brienne, I think she is impressed that Brienne managed to defeat him. She had been waiting for this after seeing an interview when Gwendoline mentioned she had to bite someone's ear off on the show.

- She asked me if Shae was Tywin's accomplice all along, to which I said "I don't know." (Truly don't)

[rmholt]

I swear the only thing my spouse got interested in was would the dwarf die. Still more into it than previous seasons. At least he isn't going to be heartbroken any time soon

[acosta]

Leaving out Tysha was a bad strategic decision, but leaving out Varys telling Tyrion how to get to the Hand's quarters was just ham-handed story-telling. There was no need for the viewers to ever be mystified in that scene about what Tyrion was doing or where he was.

He actually did give him a map of all the secret passages before the Battle of the Blackwater, but yeah, I guess it's a bit much to expect anyone to remember that. I just have no television service but a whole bunch of Game of Thrones episodes sitting in my Amazon Video library, so I've seen every episode 30 times.

[rmholt]

I got a text last night simply saying 'CHARLES DANCE IS STAUNCH LABOUR, HOW DARE THEY OFF HIM'...

:D

[Kharn]

Felt rushed to me, as if they were trying to tie up too many loose ends.

Lack of any decent cliffhanger...

Lack of any white walkers...

Episode 9 looked better and was more appealing, 1st season end that was a real let down.

Just my opinion :D

[Feoras]

My sister and her husband, upon seeing Tyrion walking away from the exit of the tunnels, with a menacing look : "He's going to kill that bitch Cersei !"

They also really didn't want The Hound and Brienne to fight each other, since they like them both; they were pretty sad for The Hound.

[Hellothere]

Mum thought that Stannis's army was Dany.

My husband thought that too. Bizarre.

[Valonqar_]

One of mys unsullieds friends has begun to refer to Stannis as the one true king. He is happy for Shae's death, but sad to see Tywin go as he was one of his favourite characters.

[Frey Pies]

One of my friends spoiled the Brienne-Hound fight for me before I could see it, saying "omg, brienne and hound, best ever!"

[madscientist]

Well, my unsullied friends and family have different opinions about the future, but this is more or less the consensus character by character:

-TYRION/VARYS: Last season, Tyrion, who was master of coin and the legitimate heir to Casterly Rock, had lots of dialogue about the Iron Bank, so they believe he will go to Braavos and use the "Tywin is dead" argument to get enough gold to hire sellswords and invade the Westerlands.

-JON/MELISSANDRE: When Mel looked at Jon all creepy, they believed she would try to sacrifice him, but then they realized that Stannis has the support of the Iron Bank and a very powerful army, thus sacrificing people is not necessary. Instead, based on the previews, they think Mel knows a great deal about the WhiteWalkers, thus she will attempt to instruct Jon in her obscure arts and help him face the Others.

-ARYA: They think she will end up with Daenerys somehow.

-CERSEI/JAMIE: Cersei has proven to be unstable, so, now that she has power, they think she will be a more horrendous Queen, and her people will turn against her. However, they believe Jaime shall try to keep order in King's Landing and protect Tommen. They believe Jaime's transition is supposed to be from the best swordsman in Westeros to a fair politician.

-BRAN: Bloodraven looks a lot like Saruman, so my family doesn't trust him. They think the Three-eyed-crow is, in fact, the leader of the White Walkers, so he will use Bran to enter the mind of every human in the world in order to kill them (ala Magneto in X-men 2). However, Bran would commit suicide before he'd let that happen.

-STANNIS/DAVOS: Now that Bran has reached Bloodraven, they believe the Others will soon invade. My family thinks Stannis will join Mance Rayder and fight the White Walkers. They're no sure what will happen next, but some of them claimed Stannis could probably die, but Davos would rescue Shireen and take her somewhere safe.

-ROOSE/RAMSAY: With Tywin dead. my family believes the Boltons will pledge allegiance to Stannis and fight the Others as well. However, they're open to the notion that Stannis's army, the Boltons. the wildlings, and the Night's watch will probably destroy each other at the wall, thus making it easier for the Others to come through.

-PETYR/SANSA: Now that Littlefinger has a secret alliance with Olenna, they think the Tyrells will turn their cloaks and slaughter the Lannisters in order to capture Tommen. However, my family has come up with a weird theory involving Petyr Baelish poisoning Margaery. They think that Littlefinger will marry Sansa to Tommen after this. In other words, the Vale/Reach alliance will rule through them.

-DAENERYS: They think Arya will convince her to sail to Westeros, where she would fight Littlefinger's armies.

-BRIENNE, YARA, the DORNISH, JORAH: No clue.

To summarize:

The two final conflicts will be:

- Stannis, Mance, Roose, Jon VS The Others

- Littlefinger, Olenna VS Daenerys

At the end, the Queen will be :

Either Sansa or Shireen.

The King: ?????

[lyanna_maria]

Felt rushed to me, as if they were trying to tie up too many loose ends.

Lack of any decent cliffhanger...

I also thought the lack of chilffhanger would be a problem, but my friend was actually very intrigued about the fact that Arya was going across the Narrow Sea, and she can't wait to see what the hell she's going to do there. Same with Tyrion, but Arya is the one she's really intrigued about.

I also got some reaction from my flatmate: she loved the episode, she couldn't believe the Tyrion thing, she cried when Jaime hugged his brother and when Jon burned Ygritte, she adored Brienne vs. Hound and said "Arya the fucking Queen in the North NOW" haha

[~DarkHorse~]

I just talked to one of my unsullied friends and here are his thoughts-

Thought Tywin's death was underwhelming. He didn't understand why Tyrion decided to go and kill him or why Tywin wasn't more shocked when Tyrion turns up with a crossbow aimed at him.

He thought the Stannis scenes were the best in the episode and is curious about the role Bran will play in the future.

"She has 3 dragons and an army! Why is she not attacking Westeros!" :lol:

Overall, he doesn't think Season 4 has been the best. Some of the scenes have been repetitive- Jon warning NW about Mance coming, Dany in Throne room playing Queen and Jaime and Tyrion sitting in a prison cell. Season 1 is still his favourite.

[Lady Greystark]

My Unsullied hairdresser had these reactions:

She had no idea who it was that showed up with the army on the Wall. Even after Stannis rode up to Mance's tent. She also gets Stannis and Roose mixed up.

She thinks Theon's bitch name is Tweak, which had me falling out of my chair with laughter.

She is really worried about the chained up dragons, and thinks it's unfair that the two "good" dragons got locked up for the bad behaviour of Drogon.

She really didn't get that it was the Tower of the Hand that Tyrion was walking into at the end, didn't hear Shae murmur "Tywin, my lion", so could not fathom why Tyrion killed her.

One of the few people whose name she can (kind of) remember is Ferris, the Master of Whisperers.