Arataniello

Goddamn I had to force myself to watch that. Glad I did. Goodbye Robb, Catelyn. Arya and the Hound together were great.

In ADwD, Tyrion remembers reading stories he found ridiculous about dragons guarding treasure. Definitely an homage to The Hobbit.

Dragons guarding their hoard stretch way back in mythology before The Hobbit.

Wonder how the whole Gendy/Melisandre storyline will play out. Will Gendry be saved by Davos then rejoin the BWB? Being saved seems like but rejoining the BWB seems doubtful.

Gendry will probably take up the role of Edric Storm in the books - leeched of his blood by Melisandre to use, but spirited away by men at the orders of Davos. Rather than being whisked off to the Free Cities, he could be returned to the BwB.

Was that supposed to be Bran hearing his father's voice through a weirwood grove? Or just regular dreamery?

Bran's voice appears to have broken in a major way since the start of season 1.

Finally thought that Alife Allen got to do some decent acting.

Most likely it is. And Tolkein picked up the dwarf names from the Völuspá. Thorin and Oakenshield (Eikinskjaldi) are separate beings, and Gandalf is listed as a dwarf there.

Remember the mnemonic from school "I before E, except after C, and especially in the name of famous authors".

http://awoiaf.wester...hp/House_Garner I think House Garner with its coat of arms of three plates with owls on them is a tribute to childrens/fantasy writer Alan Garner and his book The Owl Service.

This is not really an homage or reference that GRRM has made, since House Garner is not a noble house that appears in the main books,

Nah, I think Q survived the dragon stealing attempt.

I think the Prince that died was the Tattered Prince. The Dornishmen just abandoned the guy after he was burned and were happy to skip out when Barristan made his offer. If it were Quentyn, I think they would have demanded to be by their princes side until he died and then they would have insisted on taking his bones home.

I picture Q being taken by Rhaegal to one of the pyrimids and being stuck there trying to get to know the dragon, similar to Dany & Drogon. I think we'll see the Dornishmen make a beeline for Q & the dragon and we'll see the dragon horns affects thru Quentyn's Pov too.

I see. Meanwhile, in the books the remainder of us read, Quentyn is dead.

Could we see the return of the Quentyn the Dragontamer?

How do you envision this coming about? Quentyn being revived by Moqorro?

How can Barristan know that Balon is dead, yet doesn't know that the Greyjoys have attacked the Starks? The former happened a lot later than the latter.

There is a ton of factors that could have influenced this - when Barristan left Westeros, how and where and from whom he learned about Balon's death, and how much news was coming out of the North as the situation deteriorated.

It could well be a question worth asking GRRM at a future con, since if it is a glaring inconsistency, he can always revise it before the book is finished.

Red Lamb was merely one of Barristan's 'knights'. He mentioned three were of high quality and I'm sure one of them was nicknamed 'Red Lamb' and he brought those three to battle with him.

ISTR at the end of aDwD that Barristan thinks that Red Lamb and the two others are furthest along in their training, and worries about whether he should knight them before he confronts Hizdahr or not. I am not sure that they have in fact yet been knighted.

OH; I did notice there's a Castle of the Night's Watch called Icemark (if I'm remembering correctly) and there is a fantasy series 'Cry of the Ice Mark' but I'm not sure if there are any real connections, as ASOIAF seems to be much older.

There was an earlier use of "Icemark" in an old ('80s) computer game "Lords of Midnight" and its succssor "Doomdark's Revenge". But there is no way to tell if the name is an homage by GRRM or simply a coincidence.

Podrick Payne

Prince that was Promised

Just saying.....

;)

It has, but this is the first time that we have had the additional information reported concerning Brienne and Pod. Thanks to Hmadkour for posting.

Overall, another poor adaptation to finish a season of poor adaptation. Out goes so much of the memorable stuff that makes the books so enjoyable (House of the Undying, fall of Winterfell) for pale imitations that lack the power of the original.

This was definitely a step up from the prior episodes, either because it didn't include huge chunks of stuff that wasn't in the books, or else because GRRM was more involved in it.

Even so, it was a shame that the Sandor and Sansa scene was so curtailed.

Favorite lines of the episode

Varys - I am not entirely sure what you mean.

Tyrion - I am entirely sure you are entirely sure what I mean.

More flattening of the plot to give the producers more screen-time for what they want to show, which in this episode was Robb/Talisa. So we lose quintessential plot elements like weasel soup and Jaquen changing his face for romance.

The one bright spot for me was the brief scene with Brienne and Jaime.

Osha being seen in broad daylight, and Luwin talking to her? Yet more watering down of the great writing in the books to provide TV-esque plottery for the general public.

I should have put money on Ros being the Whore That Fulfils All Plot Points That Require A Whore.

Versi, are you saying Dagmer brought the walnuts there from elsewhere on the trail? Because (while set up very poorly), that would make 100x more sense than anything else I've come up with.

This is what I assumed happened. When Bran and Co were talking about the farm earlier in the episode, they explicitly said something about "if we go there, the occupants could be questioned if Theon follows us".

Yowsa, I just contributed and then looked at the accumulator.

EVEN THOUGH WE HAVE PASSED THE TARGET, if you want to contribute, then please do! Costs are only going to go one way in the future.

Just - not good. Way too many changes being made to the storyline as the writers/producers try to balance out screen-time for all characters, and give all of them something to do, while at the same time shoe-horning everything into ten episodes.

The first thing that came to mind in the Qarth murder scene was - "they have pre-empted the Red Wedding", swiflty followed by "they have jumped the shark". XXD as king of Qarth, working with Pyat Pree? No thank you. There was nothing wrong with how Qarth situation was pictured in the books, and handled by good directors and writers it could have been transferred to the screen without such drastic changes.

Tywin and Arya were a good screen couple the first couple of times on-screen, but it's getting repetitive, and is making Tywin less of an impressive character.

Jon and Ygritte wandering all over the place for the sake of some nice scenery and endless childish sex talk. Meaningless filler. And Ghost has conveniently disappeared.

I have more or less given up on this season. Blackwater may be good, and Bran and Rickon leaving Winterfell. Otherwise, all I can hope is that the adaptation of SoS benefits from being split over twenty episodes.

I don't think it was unnecessary. The show needs to explain how magic used to be a myth and legend, and how it is now coming back into the world. Hence, you have Pyat Pree at the party thrown by the 13, being ridiculed by Xaro because of his "parlor tricks". When Dany goes to the House of the Undying, and they show her that magic is indeed a real thing now, it will be much more dramatic for the viewer.

Books are allowed to be subtle, the show has to put it right up front and in your face, or else it gets lost.

In the show I watched last night, Xaro said that Pyat Pree is "on of the Thirteen", this being the collective term for the rulers of Qarth.

In the book I read, Pyat Pree and the warlocks are completely separate from The Thirteen, who are described in terms that indicate they are one of three merchant guilds/cartels that compete against one another in Qarth.

Like I said, an unnecessary change.

what the hell was up with Quaithe's mask?? BDSM much? I definitely did not expect that....

I always pictured it as a smooth one-piece mask, kind of like a Japanese medieval theater mask. The

And Pyat Pree - one of "the Thirteen"?? It's the unnecessary changes that are made for the TV series that are perhaps the most frustrating.

Was the guy that performed the drowned god consecration, Aeron? He was a badass. I didn't think he was cast this season though.

No, they used a generic priest of the Drowned God, so that they can cast Aeron when needed by his POV's appearance later in the series.

Some disconnected thoughts.

LF's accent - definitely heard a Welsh lilt this week, when he was talking to Tyrion. Perhaps the producers want to start making it more obvious that he is originally from the Vale (the rider who met Catelyn in the Vale in season one had a definite Welsh accent).

Before the start of the season I said how much I was looking forward to Arya's story arc. Unfortunately, huge chunks of that arc have been eviscerated from the TV series. It's a pity. Based on the very end of last night's episode, I assume there will be no torturing by the Tickler and co - how else is Gendry's identity going to remain hidden, after Arry claimed that Lommy was Gendry.

Brienne - not as ugly as in the books, but really good choice of actress for the role.

Did anyone read the entirety of the letter that Theon wrote to Robb, but then burned? - OK, I see a seaprate thread on this.

Edited for - missing word that completely changes meaning of second paragraph.

Speaking of the Targaryan family tree- think we can now safely assume that Aegon was NOT married to one of his sisters?

I think this is a valid assumption.

on another not e i read a lot about aegon being fake but remember the vision of rhaegar holding a baby saying that he was the prince that was promised and his song would be a song of ice and fire....

was aegon born at dragonstone ?...if that babe was aegon it makes sense....the dragon having 3 heads refers specifically to targaryen - so now it does - dany, aemon and aegon...all targaryen

Remember that a lot of people BELIEVE that they know who the PtwP is. Maester Aemon talks about this himself in one of Sam's chapters in aFfC, how Rhaegar thought he himself was the PtwP because his 'birth criteria' fit the prophecy.

In your list of 'dany, aemon and aegon', who is this aemon of whom you speak? Maester Aemon is dead.