Ciglon

I don't think so, I think the reason Ned said "the next I see you we'll talk about your mother" is so that Jon would have taken his Night's Watch vows and subsequently not allowed to try to claim the throne (honor would have demanded he keep his NW vows). Trying to seat Jon on the throne would have meant another rebellion to undo the rebellion that he and Robert led.

I think the Dany arc in GoT is going to be something to really show her growth as a ruler. First, she will leave Qarth with no ruler or political system and it will fail and crumble away (first mistake). Then she will leave Astapor with a poorly chosen government of the scribe, wise man, etc that will not work either (second mistake), then she will leave Yunkai untaken and they will want to go to war with her (third mistake). Not until she goes to Meereen will she realize that if she conquers a city and wants to turn it into a good and prosperous land, she must stay and do it herself, she can't trust other people to run a government the way she thinks it should be run. This would be a good way to simplify her progression as a character for the tv program imo.

Where do you get this idea from? Although I do agree with your other points, the tv program is a different media and has to be portrayed differently (perhaps some of those changes we will disagree with). GRRM licensed these people to make an adaptation of his series; they paid him for those rights and (I believe) all he wants is for it to be successful and bring people a lot of entertainment just like his books. The idea that these producers/writers/directors owe him anything more than doing what they think best for the program (whether or not we agree) is ridiculous.

Maybe they will have Quaithe give her the three betrayals, three mounts, etc prophecy. I do not think this would be a bad idea at all considering they established the warlocks as magicians but not wise people, whereas Quaithe is known to have knowledge and is fairly established as mysterious knowing quite a bit with her warnings to jorah.

I do think personally that this is his first relationship period tbh. Very much like Jon, I don't think he would have felt comfortable having sex with a whore before. Although I think that Dan and Dave suspected that this version of events would be easier for non-book readers to understand and relate to, because they probably want to make him a tragic romantic at the RW and love translates better to the audience than honour.

I guess they want non-book readers to assume that the ironmen burnt winterfell down (like many people assume in ASOS), but of course, this was different seeing as how in the books the ironmen stood up to the very end so the thought that they would burn winterfell down before they died makes a bit of sense but in the series now, non-book readers will naturally assume they did it but then think "well why would they if they were seeking mercy from (presumably) loyal northmen"?

I think he saw a crown of daggers in the snow or something? Something that helped convince Davos that he had to tell Stannis to go to the wall. ETA: Yeah, Jolene Brown has it right.

Kind of disappointed how Stannis' character has been all over the place this last series, but hopefully the future episodes will help clear up what kind of man and ruler Stannis is/would be. I feel that most non-book readers only like the fact that he fought (bravely) against the Lannisters, but there have been hardly any moments that define his character as a just man who believes in ruling with an iron fist ("laws should be made of iron, not of pudding") and ultimately, a man who does not want the crown (unlike every other usurper in Westeros right now), but rather sees that the crown is his by rights and because of his belief of the importance of law to a society, demands that the law be upheld absolutely.

The only gripe I really had with the HotU wasn't the lack of visions (glad the RW wasn't there tbh, too obvious already), I actually liked the Khal Drogo scene and iron throne, but would it have hurt to have the "three treasons you will know" prophecy? Unless they are saving this prophecy for Quaithe to give to Dany later (which will be really good for establishing Quaithe as this omnipresent, prophesying figure for Dany. Also considering how blatantly obvious they're making the Frey's betrayal of Robb will be, I'm surprisedthey chose to make Roose/Ramsay's betrayal not as obvious as it should have been - not too mention how stupidly subtle Qhorin's plot to fight Jon was in the program. I mean, non-book readers actually had to try and make sense of the fight scene when it was happening, figuring out whether it was planned or not, that should not have been a concern at all at that point. Although the fight was fairly emotional as well up to that point. IMO would've been nice to have had Qhorin tell Jon to do whatever they ask of him in time to come rather than say "we are the watchers on the wall", would've been good for establishing inner conflict for Jon next series. No gripes though, I loved his last words. :) Robb getting married under the seven, not a big deal imo (considering Robb's plot will be over in a few episodes lol) but also b/c non-book readers pretty much know all they need to about the old gods at this point (nothing really), but they don't know anything about the religion of the Seven which is more complicated and has a larger role to play in time (High Septon later). Honestly, I agree with someone earlier that Stannis' character is just all over the place in the scenes he's been in, what the hell? Totally disappointed they seem to make him some sort of bad guy when really, he's by far the best candidate for the Iron Throne inc. Dany at this point (not too mention the only one save Dany with an actual claim to the damn thing by blood). They have failed to make his cause a righteous one to claim what is rightfully his and is being denied him. Plus more elaboration on him believing he's the PwwP/AA reborn wouldn't hurt imo. Also, with regards to LF and sansa, I liked that part. TBH we know nothing will come of that for a while b/c she marries Tyrion, but it helps build the relationship between LF and sansa that will arise later (If they just show LF taking an interest in Sansa for 2 episodes before helping her escape it'll be too weird, they have to establish that the strange strange fascination LF has with Sansa stems from his love for Catelyn). I like what they did with Shae as well (trying to convince him to run away, tyrion weeping), it'll make what she does later on that much more awful and emotional hopefully. All in all, a very good episode, would have been phenomenally better with just a few cost-free, easy, and small changes to make it stay true to the story (Robb/Cat thinking Bran/Rickon are dead and it's their fault is the biggest example for instance. i think that is why most people are upset, they didn't spend millions of dollars on blackwater and mess up, they didn't cast completely incompetent actors or anything like that, they just made a series of unfortunately small, unnecessary changes that added up make the plot suffer tremendously.

I think Stnnis leading the charge and being first up the ladder was one of those "can't resist" moments in writing a battle scene, where it just would've looked too awesome not to put in...Also, in the books Ser Axell Florent did have to convince Stannis that the day was lost and to retreat.

Rory McCann was excellent as the houn in this episode, absolutely can't wait to see more of him later on.