Black of Hair and Heart

Totally agree. Actress Rebecca Hall has a Black grandfather and no one who looks at her would ever think she was anything other than white. People are way too literal about the whole issue.

Clearly, that's not the case in the show. No Velaryon blood from Corlys's generation onwards makes it into the bloodline that continues the Targaryen dynasty. And Valaena Velaryon and Alyssa Velaryon don't need to be addressed since they've been dead for decades/centuries by the time HotD starts.

Must be really stuck in his craw if he wants them to change a detail that won't even be relevant to the upcoming spinoff. That said, there's really no reason you couldn't just make Aerys the fourth son of Aegon V and swap out Shaera for Rhaella. The generations are so compressed at that point, it wouldn't really make a difference.

I'd love to read an article/book/dissertation someday about why this fanbase is so uniquely unhinged, especially with regards to Benioff and Weiss. I find it alternatively fascinating and infuriating. We're probably gonna get scolded again for being off topic.

Re: Hobart Hightower, my guess is they'll just take the Hobart Hightower that exists in F&B and make him the Lord of Oldtown. The Hightower family tree circa the Dance is very complicated/unclear, so combining some characters would make sense.

It's hard for me to say. Virtually everyone I interact with regarding the series, both IRL and online, have read the books, so I don't consider myself well versed in show-only fans or their feelings. But the hatred I see for Benioff and Weiss among book fans (especially on this site) is borderline psychotic and completely unjustified.

Ha, I don't know. I type a lot for work? Yeah, that seems to be the general sense I'm getting here from everyone.

LOL, we'll have to agree to disagree there.

I mean, you generally don't have to persuade someone to do something if they're initially willing to do it. It was probably out of character for Book Littlefinger to do it, but Show Littlefinger always struck me as more obsessed with his own advancement than with Sansa/Catelyn, so it didn't feel out of character to me.

Considering what a mess season 5 was in terms of pacing, that was probably the smart move. They should have done it earlier and cut Dorne entirely, the show would have been better for it. Calling it a "gleeful" excision really speaks to the irrational hatred this fandom has for Benioff and Weiss. Like they're sitting in a hotel room cackling and jerking each other off while crossing out plot lines on a white board with a big red marker and watching this forum melt down in real time.

I don't think there's a fixed number. But you'd be surprised how many people have the same lesson shoved in their face again and again and never learn it. Although it's different for Sansa since all of this is happening against her will.

I'd suspect that the primary reason was "it didn't exist because Martin hadn't written it yet" whereas the Northern plot with the Boltons did.

I mean, she probably shouldn't have trusted him by that point, but he was her benefactor and her only line to actual power at that time. It's not a great decision, but hey, sometimes fictional characters make bad choices!

Because she trusted Littlefinger and was in no position to refuse? Like, what was she going to do otherwise?

I love that moment. Alfie Allen crushes it and it's the emotional bedrock of the later scenes between Theon and Sansa.