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Cersei is the doomed anti-heroine whose actions cause the prediction she is trying to avoid to come true. So the Valonquar is Jamie. He has already killed one king, why not a queen?

Shireen has to survive so she can teach Ilyn Payne how to read and write. Then he can divulge all the secrets of the house of lannister. Until Arya gives him the gift of course.

Finding his tomb does not prove that the office of Pope existed at the time Fabian lived. The inscription on the tomb only states he was a bishop. It seems highly unlikely that there would be a conclave for election to the office at the time. The centralization of the church and dogma would only become possible much later when Constantine took over. At the time of Fabian, the church was still centered on the Greek world. We know that from the bishops Constantine invited to Nicosia. Rome was not important enough to merit an invite. We also know that there were multiple sources of power since the Bishops at the time spent much of their energy declaring each other to be heretics. All that it took to start a church was for someone to declare themselves a bishop. It seems quite likely that there were actually two bishops operating in Rome at the time. Fabian is the one later clerics recognized as pope but St Hippolytus is also known to have been a bishop in Rome at the same time. He is also a major theologian of his age writing Against All Heresies. Given that the documentary evidence only appears after Constantine, there is really no need to give credence to what is actually a rather unlikely set of tales.

Not only is the bird thing believable it happened in the election of one of the medieval popes, Fabianus in 236. That is why folk went nuts when a seagull landed on the stove pipe during the election of Francis. Or maybe it didn't as there is very little reason to believe that the post of bishop of Rome even existed at the time let alone that the bird story is true. It is very much the sort of anecdote that appeals to someone fabricating a history. It is momentous but inconsequential. At any rate it was believed by the faithful for the next millennia or so.

Nah, why not dial it up to 11 and ice Myrcella now? That leaves Cersei with only Tommen and a much more precarious position. If you look at the stuff that has to happen in the remaining books it is obvious that there is more than can be done in the remaining three series. Whether we are looking at seven seasons or eight, there has to be a war in Dorne between the Lannister and Tyrell houses. And the season finale of the penultimate season has to be when the horn of winter is blown and the wall falls. Either way, ice Myrcella in season 5 so we can get on with the next bit. I think we are looking at eight seasons rather than seven and if the producers wanted it they could do nine and still be stuck cutting stuff out at a furious pace.

I think it is Loras Tyrell we will see getting the chop first. Way to raise the stakes and establish that the High Sparrow is badass. And I think he gets whacked in episode 4 because why else send out four screener episodes to the reviewers? It is the reason they needed the gay sex scene. They have to chop Loras before Margeary or she would choose trial by combat. When Margaery gets the chop is another matter entirely. Might be this season or next. I think Shireen will go to the stake but survive for now. The reason GRRM saves Mance is likely because he wants to use the glamor scheme to save Jon Snow from For The Watch. If they are going to save Jon Snow that way, they have to raise it as a possibility first.

I think it is obvious that Mel is going to attempt to burn Shireen. But letting her get away with it is perhaps a bit too obvious. This red god is starting to look just as bad as the White Walkers. Possibly the two are opposites (ice and fire). And at some point someone is going to intervene and stick it to Mel. The question is when does it happen, who tries to stop her and does she succeed. GRRM is clearly hinting at the fate of Iphigenia. But will Shireen be willing to be sacrificed? I suspect that the wildings she has befriended will have a say in the matter. Though Sam and Gilly will be down south. It probably won't be Jon Snow either because he has stood up to Stannis several times already. It is obvious he is not going to stand for it. On the lady stoneheart thing, I think that if she returns it will be kept as the deadliest of secrets till the moment it appears on the screen. The big problem for HBO is that too much time has elapsed for this to be Cat brought back to life. But they can probably get away with that if they make it clear that she is dead, dead, dead. The reason I think they didn't want to bring Cat back was that much of the attraction of the series is in the fact that key characters are killed off so you never know who is safe. That is lost if the series becomes like Dune with all the characters killed off in book 2 coming back in books 3 and 4 being re-killed and coming back in 5. So if a character comes back it has to be worse than death. I would think we have to get some more prepping on the guest rite thing as well. Maybe Mel can drop a hint to Jon.

In Westeros, if someone sends you a box anonymously, it is pretty obvious that it is going to be a threat. And with Tomen under guard it was probably only Myrcella that could be the target.

I think Gregor's head is pretty certain. Why else do the dwarf head thing? Undead characters don't really work on screen and introducing Lady Stoneheart would have people hoping for Tywin's return. No, I think it will be episode 9. Same as Ned, the Red Wedding and Ygritte. The finale will be riding drogon. Baelish would obviously want to travel incognito so that explains why Pod and Brienne don't recognize the banners on the road. Stopping at the inn would be necessary but again they would not want to make too much of a fuss. The chance of meeting someone who would recognize Sansa stark is pretty small. They intend to be in Winterfell in a few days. She was splendidly clueless. But at least that mean sister might live a little longer.

Oh please. Can't folk work it out? First you have the box speech and Varys telling Tyrion he is needed. Then you have Danny trying to do a Ned and ending up doing a Joffrey. The parallels with the Joffrey/Ned execution are obviously intentional. What is more I think the parallel between Tyrion's journey in a box and the journey made by the sorcerer who castrated Varys is also intentional. It is not clear to me if Varys is only bringing Tyrion to advise. Does he know or suspect Tyrion's true parentage? Also just how much of the travel story is going to be cut out? Surely they have to separate Varys and Tyrion. Because one of the primary issues in book Tyrion's situation is that even though he ends up in Mereen, Danny has no reason to know or trust him.

All make prefect sense. Cersei is incompetent. She isn't trying to rescue her daughter, she is trying to give herself a free hand to settle scores and murder Margaery.

Arya was a free agent. Sansa was under LF control and he then tried to kill her. Show Ellaria isn't after vengeance on the child, she wants to make war inevitable and mutilating Myrcella is a means to that end. At this point there are a few ways they can take the plot. Its the start of the war of three queens...

Or the whole Iron Islands plot can take place in Season 6. Putting the horn on a boat and sending it off into the nether never made a lick of sense. Just wait for Danny to show up with the dragons. The horn itself does not need to show up until it is going to be used. And anyone can drop a mention of it. Or they can ask a Maester how to deal with Danny's dragons. The big question that has not yet been answered is whether there will be seven seasons or more. I would bet the pressure is on to make an eighth already.

Battle scenes are expensive and don't add very much if overused. GRRM seems to have written Loras out by sending him to Dragonstone. D&D seem to be setting him up to use him to raise the stakes in the Ayatollah/High Sparrow plotline. Until this scene there was no indication that a man might need to be discrete about gay sex.

I agree. I think it could prove pivotal when the high Sparrow plot arc begins. Margery has been seen in the same room as her naked brother. In this scene Margery is telling her brother to be discrete. Does she follow her own advice? Well who knows but it is priming the audience for what is on its way. No, she has no control over those particular two. A given person can only ride one dragon. Perhaps Drogon is already bonded with Dani so she cannot ride the other two. The Greyjoys have to make some sort of reappearance at some time. But maybe thats for Season 6. Why introduce the dragon horn to the plot before Dani can even ride one of them.

Stanis would be a known quantity. He was the kings brother and one of the most powerful men in the land. Of course Manse knows him.

Up till now, Cersei has believed she could do as well as any man and is discounted because she is a woman. Well now she gets her big chance and unlike Tyrion, she is a complete disaster. The prophecy also establishes how Cersei has always been a nasty piece of work. When Maggy refuses to give a reading, Cersei's first resort is to threats of having eyes gouged out.

Making Maggy the Frog look hideous would have been too much of a cliche and distracted from the performance. Same goes for yet another battle scene. I can't see how Littlefinger can marry Sansa to the Boltons while Cersei is alive and the Boltons need the support of the Lanisters. I got the impression LF was sending Sansa out of Westeros altogether. Sansa's story arc to date has her entirely as the pawn of others. But she is showing some signs of breaking out of that role. A real Stark girl married to Bolton would kill him in his sleep pronto. That might be the point of course. There is no problem in introducing a fake Aria now, an impostor has to be a nobody in any case. That would provide the motivation for Brienne/Pod to go north - they know she is an impostor.

The Mance scene is deliberately playing with the folk who have book knowledge. GRRM is rather too happy with resurrecting characters. D&D have avoided the undead characters. So is he dead or not? The prophecy scene is not foreshadowing. It is explaining why Cersei is acting as she does to Margery. I think we will see the rest of the scene when Tyrion reappears in Westeros. But that is likely to take some time. Showing both now would only confuse matters.

President Obama gets copies of game of thrones in advance. You can be pretty sure GRRM does as well.

I think the plotting of the series is a lot tighter than the books and an improvement in many ways. GRRM is rather indulgent but I suspect the main difference is that he can't go back an rewrite book 1 to help out a situation in book 5. The show's producers knew a lot more about where the story was headed. So instead of three random prostitutes in different places, Ros. Instead of a new character being used for the blood magic, reuse Gendry and set Arya against Berwick. I have no sympathy for the folk who thought Stannis was going to come in and save the day and eliminate one of the main season to season cliffhangers. It was obvious that there had not been enough prep for the main battle with Mance and that Yggrite's death would be well into the episode. There was never room for Stannis. Even if they have shot the main battle scenes already they will be shown in season 5. I disagree on the blood magic thing though. I have a nasty feeling that the God of light is going to turn out to be allied with the other or the dual of the other or something similar.

If you like Stannis you are in for a disappointment. He is obviously going to be killed off early in book 6 when Mel switches to supporting Jon. Stannis has to die before Cersei's brats because otherwise Stannis becomes the sole legitimate heir of Robert Baratheon and Dannys is restarting the war of five kings rather than helping fight the other.

I said we were all done with Stannis for this season. Nobody believed me. Oh no, there had been some interview in which the producers gave away the plot yasee... I don't see why the producers would be in a rush to go through the book material any faster than they need to. Jon's stabbing isn't going to happen till 5.9 at the very earliest and might not happen till season 6. There is more than enough Kings Landing material for episode 10 but we will might get some Ironborn and Danys action as well and the show's title clearly promises that Bran will meet the children of the forest. We are due some Brienne as well and where is Lady Stoneheart? Oh and Arya needs to leave the hound to go to Bravos. And all that is on top of Tywin getting his comeupance which surely has to be the show closer now.

10 This is the episode when the producers told us they know what happens in book 6 and we don't. And don't think they are messing with the plots on their own. GRRM is part of the team and the series is a lot better edited than the books are. The most important part was the reveal on Sansa which is clearly a plotline that is from book 6. Sansa is not going to be Baelish's toy. Will she turn into Arya II or Cersei II though? This handling of Lyssa's murder is much better than the books. In the books we only find out about the venom after the duel. So I think we will find out about that next episode. when the Mountain does not heal. Having Arya arrive somewhere too late makes a lot more sense than the pointless meanderings of the book. It also takes her in the direction of the sea and on to Bravos. Much more logical than the books again. Next season the whole Sansa plot line will be new. And they will be drawing in part from Book 6. Meanwhile other parts are still finishing book 3. Looks to me like we are looking at more than 7 seasons... I would guess 9. And thats not counting the fact there are likely 9 books as well.