Kingslayer

Just rewatched it. 10/10. Holy shit, did anyone imagine the dragons would look that good?? Dany's boss speech was perfect, too- "I swear to you, those who would harm you will die screaming." Chills, man. Thought Marillion's song was hilarious. Joff is great as a budding young tyrant, Robb is great as a budding young hero. Catelyn/Kingslayer talk was fantastic. The much-maligned Roz/Pycelle scene gave us some cool history and confirmed that the Grand Maester is a disgusting fraud- good foreshadowing for future events. Arya starting to embrace the darkness was cool ("I killed a fat boy just like you. You're a liar, but I'm not"). Running out of positive adjectives, so... yeah. :) Some of the negative comments almost strike me as self-parody. I really liked one post in this thread that awarded the episode 5/10, one of the (very serious) complaints being the lack of a cracking sound as the dragon eggs split open. I'm picturing a real-life Comic Book Guy furiously typing away: "The text clearly notes a distinct cracking noise as the eggs hatch. Worst. Adaptation. Ever."

I'm hoping for Matthew Willig as the Hound. Physically, he's more perfect for the role than anyone else I've seen mentioned, and I'm sure he has the acting range to pull it off.

A fellow named Conan Stevens (an ex-wrestler/bodybuilder, iirc) is 7'5", 320 pounds, and has already volunteered to play Gregor when the time comes

I'm in the "Benjen = Coldhands" camp. One possible reason for his refusal to reveal himself: he just doesn't care anymore? He is dead, after all, and he may retain some knowledge of who he used to be; but that might be irrelevant at this point.

The Boltons were not flaying people- openly, at least- before the Starks went south. In ACoK, Theon recalls that once upon a time the Boltons had done such things, but "supposedly all that had ended a thousand years ago." In AGoT, Robb mentions a room in the Dreadfort that is alleged to contain skins of Bolton enemies, and eight-year-old Bran's first response is "that's just a story." It's pretty clear that they did have a sinister reputation- duh, Dreadfort and all- but they were loyal to Winterfell (Roose Bolton was on the Trident with Ned, for example) and didn't go around torturing people where anyone couild find out. I Really? See, I take the opposite view- I view it as just an extension of Martin's hostility to fantasy expectations. Realistically, why would northern lords prove themselves kinder/more honorable/whatever than their southron counterparts? Especially with winter coming and de facto anarchy atm. Life is not a song. ;)

One thing I hope to learn from Theon's PoV- the identity of Ramsay's mother. He lived with her until a few years before the books, iirc, and he didn't turn into a sociopath overnight (I would assume), so... who was she? Probably minor nobility; I doubt Roose would bother to groom the son of some random peasant woman. And what was she like? :stunned:

Ah, yes. Forgive me, it's been some time since last I read it. (I understand your pedantism; I'm the same way sometimes.)

Dany sees a ship at Qarth called Magister Manolo which looks "barely seaworthy". Manolin is the name of Hemingway's protagonist in The Old Man and the Sea.