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So I guess this establishes that the Bronn marriage is important enough to include on the show.

LOL

Maybe a Lannister ship found the boat? Tywin did order the ships to close off the bay.

Littlefinger tossed it into the boat Dontos' body was in.

Have you been watching the show? Theon told Ramsay last year that the Stark boys were alive, and there was a scene this season where Theon told Roose at Ramsay's behest. Locke was in that same scene, and Roose told him there was land and a holdfast for him if he found the boys and took care of them. Ramsay also mentioned that taking out Jon as well might be beneficial. So Locke not only knows that Bran and Rickon are alive, but his exact mission is to make sure that they're not for much longer.

She's not dead, and that isn't even her last chapter. She shows up in Jaime's chapter in Dance and leads him off to save Sansa, who she says the Hound is threatening to kill if Jaime doesn't come with her and alone.

But the mutineers pretty much did, or were implied to have done, the same things in the books, so how is it really any different? Also, I wouldn't say they're remotely worse than Ramsay.

He's the acting Lord Commander right now.

There's no source. It's just speculation. Personally, I think it's more likely that D&D just asked Martin what the Others do with the babies they take from Craster and decided to show it. Of course, maybe the prologue in Winds will be Benjen. I tend to think he'll appear again at some point since people keep mentioning him. That would be as good a place as any.

I've always seen the Great Other as a god, not a physical being. Similar to R'hllor in that he/she may not exist at all, and we'll likely never get a confirmation one way or the other (much like in real life). So no, I do not think that was the Great Other. It may have been the leader of the Others, and I don't think it's ridiculous to assume that they have a leader, or a group of leaders. They're clearly an intelligent race of creatures that likely have some sort of greater motive behind their actions other than simply wiping out humanity. And yes, they are still trying to follow the books. They just decided to have Bran do something interesting, since he really doesn't do much of consequence for most of books three and five and only has a couple of chapters in five at all. It's probably safe to assume that Bran is an important character, so giving him screen time is something that the showrunners would want to do, lest we forget about him. And if they continued to show him just being dragged around, viewers would start to grow increasingly bored like they did last season. This is a solution to that problem. Not that this has anything to do with your quote above, but I also don't understand the people complaining about how this is a plot hole or a huge coincidence. The books are literally filled with ridiculous coincidences and characters improbably meeting. Cat and Tyrion. Tyrion and Jorah. Arya and Sam. Etc. It happens constantly in the books and people rarely complain. It's also hard to call it a plot hole until we see how it plays out next week.

The idea that this is a dangerous precedent is laughable. HBO owns the rights to the television adaptation of A Song of Ice & Fire. Therefore, they (and by extension, the showrunners) are free to make any changes that they deem necessary or acceptable. There is no precedent to speak of. There is simply the TV version of the story and the book version. There is no legal reason they have to be the same. And again, the Martin quote you posted is totally irrelevant because Martin himself opened this door by signing the contract for the adaptation in the first place. He gave the showrunners permission to take his work and alter it. In fact, he has had numerous interviews where he talks about the realities of adaptations, and how changes are necessary for various reasons. He himself has worked in the television industry. This is not fan fiction. This is a legally sanctioned adaptation, and more importantly, it's an adaptation with no obligations to be totally faithful to the source material. And again, that's not me saying that I agree with all the changes. It's me saying that calling changes that you don't like fan fiction is ignorant of the realities here. HBO owns the television rights to this story. Therefore, the story in the television show is whatever they say it is. You may not always agree with their changes (as I don't), but that doesn't make them fan fiction, and it doesn't set any sort of precedent.

Locke was at the Dreadfort with Ramsay and Roose in episode two, where Roose promised him lands if he is able to find and dispose of the two remaining Stark children. Ramsay puts it out there that he might want to take care of Jon Snow as well just in case.

Or perhaps he saw Locke buddying up with Jon and decided to take care of two birds. I still think the most likely reason Thorne was fine with it was because he just didn't care. As far as he was concerned, all these guys volunteering were people who would vote against him in a choosing anyway. Might as well let them all run off to die.

I saw it as more of Thorne not even remotely caring about the fate of some random recruit who has only been on the Wall for a day or two. Thorne isn't training the men any more, so he probably didn't see that Locke was a skilled swordsman who would be valuable on the mission to avenge Mormont.

First off, I think Jon's Caesar moment will come at the end of next season, not three seasons from now, as there's no way the showrunners are going to spend that much time on books four and five, especially if seven seasons truly is the target. Second, I question why Locke would linger around even two seasons in the first place. We can already reasonably assume that he will be at the Wall for the battle in episode nine, as he could be seen in the background during Thorne's battle speech in the trailers for this season. By that point, do we not think that he would be reasonably sure that Jon truly doesn't know where Bran and Rickon are? And if Locke really wanted to take Jon out, couldn't he easily do it during the upcoming mission? Or during the battle? Why wait until he's in a position of power and has a ton of wildling allies? I mean, obviously Locke doesn't know that's going to happen, but it seems like enough time will have passed by episode nine for him to correctly assume that Jon Snow does, in fact, know nothing and either ice him or head back to the Dreadfort. Then again, I'm not writing the show, so who knows? I kind of like the idea that maybe Locke decides to stay in the Watch. It did seem like he and Jon were legitimately getting along when they interacted. It would be kind of funny to see a character turn-around like that.

So essentially your argument is that you're fine with changes so long as you like them, but god forbid they should change anything in a manner you disapprove of? I really don't get why this Bran storyline is a big deal. His story was boring as hell in the third and fifth books. Yeah, there was some cool backstory relayed during his chapters, but other than that it's all travelogues, similar to Brienne through most of the fourth book. All the writers are doing is putting him in a situation where he might actually be able to do something interesting for the first time since season two, and where his group is in some legitimate peril. I also don't really get why the story with Bran in the North is any different than your comparison of Arya meeting Tywin. Both are major departures from the source material designed to make the show more interesting to viewers. Further, HBO owns the television rights to Game of Thrones. There is no such thing as fan fiction here. This is an officially licensed adaptation. As far as anyone is concerned, this is the official version of the television story. It has its differences from the books, as every adaptation does, but ultimately it seems to still be pretty faithful. Nothing they have changed appears like it will have any impact on the end game. They're just fleshing out the middle to add some excitement in what would otherwise be a boring character arc (Bran travelling for another full season). Further, Martin's quotes on fan fiction do not apply here, and I honestly don't see how anyone could think that they do. He signed off on this adaptation! He writes an episode a year, and consults with the creators and actors. Just because you don't care for the changes (and believe me, there are changes that I don't like) doesn't mean the story on the show doesn't count.

He'd still technically be a Lannister, as Tywin married a cousin.

It was probably excluded because it's not important later.

They could simply have the Second Sons turn their cloaks and join the enemy army, leaving Daario on Dany's side. Further, they could pretty easily make Ben Plumm the second in command who turns on Dany and convinced the Sons to swap sides.

I don't think we will see that, but I also think that the writers of the show need to know which characters are most important in future books in order to properly plot our their season. The way things seem to be going this year, next year seems like it will mostly be the second half of Storm, but with some Feast/Dance content (specifically, the Kingsmoot and Bran's stuff and possibly some Arya stuff) added in. The problem is, so much of the main plot points rely on timing, so I don't see how they can possibly infuse too much Dance/Feast content into season four without completely ruining the timeline. Yeah, there will be changes, but they can't change the entire timeline of the series.

I voted 8. Probably my third favorite episode of this season (after five, then four). It was a good episode, just not a great one, but that's to be expected given the fact that it was mostly a plot-building episode. It was really beautifully shot, though, which was an added bonus. Also, I guess we finally got a definitive answer on Theon's castration. All we need to find out now is if it was twig, berries, or the full Unsullied. Edit: Forgot to add that I loved the foreshadowing of Tyrion giving Shae the gold necklace. There have been questions as to whether or not the showrunners would have the balls to go through with that particular scene, and I think that question was answered tonight.

Man they really made Selyse batshit insane on the show. I don't really mind, but damn. That duel was fantastic. Really gives me hope that they can do justice to the Mountain/Viper duel next season. Definitely the best fight choreography this show has given us so far.

Beric has been cast, and if you watched any of the pre-season preview trailers he appeared in almost all of them with his fiery sword. I believe I saw him in the preview for next week's episode, so I'd imagine that's when we'll meet him.

So who here clapped at the Meereenese Knot joke? The non-reader friends I watch with looked at me strangely, but I just told them "you'd have to be there." Regardless, absolutely incredible joke on the part of the writers.

I think adding songs to the end credits is drastically different from adding songs to the actual show.