I have to say that of everything I saw in this episode, the thing I am most hyped about is the tower of joy scene from the previews. Its going to slow down the speed of my week 3x. Now it ends! Also, I bitched earlier that I thought that using Red God powers for the Jon resurrection would not be epic enough and they turned it into a really touching scene. Very much like Thoros of Myr, praying for his friend.
I hope the present for Ramsey is Jon. Bastard Bowl Get Hype.
My hype level for Clegange Bowl is on life support after A. Ron's rather beautiful talk about how it would ruin the redemptive arc. However, now that the Sparrow is on the defensive and the Mountain is smashing heads, I think the Sparrow might have to call in a certified bad ass. They better have a lot of chickens. GET HYPE is in recovery.
I'm more shocked by Roose getting it so soon than anything. I'm speculating that the "gift" Ramsay gets is Rickon Stark from the seemingly Bolton loyalist Umbers. He will be the hostage of the remixed Pink Letter.
I love this idea, the Umbers and Rickon get close enough to the Boltons and the Freys(probably) and then...the reckoning.
Ok... ok... ok.. so you have Doran out smarted by these ridiculous versions of the Sand Snakes... fine...
BUT THEN you have Roose played by his son? Come on! Ramsay is a mad dog, as Roose points out while Roose is this cold calculating genius. Just plain and simply stupid.
And the Karstark is just like "Oh yeah that's cool. No biggy, this is the new lord" WTF? LOL
Also, how ridiculous does Bran look being carried by Hodor now? LOL He's almost as tall as Hodor.
Seems like that the young Karstark and Ramsay might have been planning this awhile. I don't think it's going to matter, though, because if he thinks he can march on Castle Black and face nothing but a few dozen beleaguered black brothers he's got another thing coming, and then some. Bring it. His dad's brains were the only thing keeping the wolves at bay.
I wonder if Ramsay will take some of Roose's advice and not march on Castle Black to further perturb the North. He'll send a remixed Pink Letter with Rickon Stark from the Umbers (whose banners you see before the "gift" mention in the preview) as hostage to draw out Jon Snow, Sansa whom he presumes rides for the wall, and any Stark loyalists they can muster. He thinks the northern houses "loyal" to him is more than enough manpower but eventually gets betrayed in a remix Grand Northern Conspiracy.
Even with a murder and a resurrection my favorite moment was still the freeing of the dragons. Can't wait to see them wreak some havoc on Slaver's Bay.
How are they supposed to get out of the tomb now that they are too big for the door?
Even with a murder and a resurrection my favorite moment was still the freeing of the dragons. Can't wait to see them wreak some havoc on Slaver's Bay.
How are they supposed to get out of the tomb now that they are too big for the door?
I think the Unsullied can open up that tomb in no time seeing the elaborate way they torn down that pyramid harpy last season.
Honestly, a little sad Roose died. Loved the actor. Ramsay is gonna lead House Bolton into a shit storm. House Umber and Manderly are going to plot against him. I just HOPE that the "gift" teased in the trailer for next week's episode isn't Rickon. those were Umber banners flying in the trailer and last we heard from Rickon, him and Osha were going to the Last Hearth, the Umber's stronghold.
Okay, is it being too nit-picky to complain about Bloodraven not having a tree growing into his friggin skull? I mean, when we did see him at the end of season 4 and he said "I've been watching you Brandon Stark. With a thousand eyes and one." Doesn't have the same impact when dude has two working eyes! (He should also have a big ol wine colored birth mark on his face in the shape of a raven but...)
Also, did Melisandre swing by and trim his hair and beard too since we had seen him last? He was quite the hairy tree wizard!
Ok... ok... ok.. so you have Doran out smarted by these ridiculous versions of the Sand Snakes... fine...
BUT THEN you have Roose played by his son? Come on! Ramsay is a mad dog, as Roose points out while Roose is this cold calculating genius. Just plain and simply stupid.
And the Karstark is just like "Oh yeah that's cool. No biggy, this is the new lord" WTF? LOL
Also, how ridiculous does Bran look being carried by Hodor now? LOL He's almost as tall as Hodor.
This is actually one area where the show has handled it better than the books. Ramsay killing Roose actually makes sense. Ramsay is bold enough to want to kill him. And, unlike most of the book stuff, getting rid of Roose makes sense in terms of helping unite the north, since Roose participated in the treason, but not Ramsay.
The Ramsay plot is the worst part of the books for me. Book Ramsay attacks other major lords and other major houses, and is suspected by Roose of killing his firstborn, and yet Ramsay keeps getting by through a massive plot armor (the way he survives Rodrik is ridiculous). Show Ramsay has been cruel only to no names and the Iron Born, and was discreet with Sansa. In other words, it makes sense that Kastarks and others would side with Ramsay versus Roose and the Freys. We know Ramsay is crazy, but from the point of view of the average northern lord Ramsay is untainted by the red wedding while being the one to get rid of the Ironborn and Stannis, which would make him much more popular than Roose and his Frey wife.
So... did Mel just unblock Jon so he could warg back into his body? Or did her magic do jack shit and it was a coincidence?
If her magic worked, wouldn't she have had some sort of fainting spell or get weak since it takes from her? Did she believe enough?
Also, the part where Bran says "You finally show me what I want to see and then tell me to stop." Its kind of a big metaphor for the show. They are not pulling punches anymore and going all out.
Jamie was a boss.
Another beautiful scene with Sansa where she finds out about her sister!
So stoked. Best episode since the end of season 2?
"Fuck em then. Fuck all of them. I'm not a devout man. Obviously. Seven gods. Drown gods. Tree gods. It's all the same. I'm not asking the Lord of Light for help... I'm asking the woman who showed me that miracles exist!"
Ramsay lists the Manderly's as allies in his takeover of the North. Do we get an epic "The North Remembers" speech given to him as his allies rebel against him later this season?
I know I'm going to be in the minority here. But we are really supposed to belive that in a world where Dany had to sacrifice the love of her life, her unborn son, a witch, and her ability to have kids to use magic. Where it was implied Mel was using Stannis' own life force to create a shadow baby. In a world where you have to fall off a tower and be visited by a magic man in a tree to have magic sight. All it takes to bring you back from the dead is like 10 magic world's and burning your hair?
I find it dumb and uninteresting and it breaks my suspension of disbelief to belive that anyone at castle black would fallow zombie John. Why does Davos even trust Mel? He has always treated her with mistrust because he suspected right, that she was leading Stannis to his death.
Now that thst rant is out of the way, I like most of everything else. However it is getting really hard to be invested in any one story line when all we get are 5 min clips before it switches perspective. I really hope once we are in the meat of this season they take some more focused looks at each plot.
Those shackles around the necks of the dragons must weigh at least 500 pounds. And Tyrion was able to remove the pin with one hand? I call shenanigans.
@Luke I did wonder why the while "life must be paid for with death" sacrifice idea didn't seem to apply here, but I'm guessing that's a show thing since its less clearly established. Davos's suggestion to Mel seemed to kind of come out of the blue. I wonder what his role is in the book story and if in the books this isn't when Shireen gets burned. Anyway, personally I thought it was okay (and exhilarating, I've been waiting a long time) although I think it will probably have some more narrative threads in the books.
Eh I find it funny that it was supposed to be this big like OMG I can't belive it moment, and it wasn't. Literally everyone knew he was coming back. I was just dumb and though Martin might actually have something more interesting up his sleeve.
I'm probably going to end up hating how this ends, because for me the the magical part of the story never really holds up. And I have a really bad feeling that all the fan fic theories of zomg dragons and magic save the day are going to be right.
Imo this is always the part of the story GRRM never wanted to write. He found the political machinations way more interesting. It is just unfortunate he started the series teasing a war with magic ice demons.
Also listened to the instant take. I don't feel lIke I even need to argue the literally merit of this, when the reaction of people podcasting and analyzing this are like "well he is back we all talked about it and knew it was coming". It GRRM intended to write the most trite and tropy cliffhanger he could, he succeeded.
This is nothing more than GRRM not liking the fact that Jon was stuck at the wall due to his gardening approach of writing. This is a cheap as fuck narrative cheat to get him out of a corner he wrote himelf into.
Maybe all the false kings dying, including Stannis, led to Jon's resurrection. Plus, magic has been growing stronger throughout the series, no? I don't know, just spitballing here.
The only thing I could see be interesting is probably by winning this war magic goes back to normal, which would mean Jon is again dead. So by leading a war against the White Walkers Jon is doomed do die.
Also remeber a legit heir to Winterfell still exists. Jon could find himself in quite a pickle if the Wildings worship him as a god and make him Kind of the North, only to have Rickon ride in with a Northern army proclaiming him true King of the North.
I have a feeling all this continued fighting is just going to make the North that much weaker for when the White Walkers come south.
I do wonder why Davos would even approach Mel about this idea. The show has made some effort to tie Jon and Davos together but I'm not sure I understand why Davos finds Jon special enough or why he thinks it's possible. Are there rumors of Thoros and the red priests by extension? Mel seemed pretty surprised when she saw it.
Would have been good to at least have him give some lip service to the idea that Jon is somehow necessary to the survival of the North. Or the realm as a whole, since I'm not sure what love Davos has for the North.
Ultimately I just wanted it to happen enough that I didn't care, and really enjoyed everything up at the wall.
Comments
I hope the present for Ramsey is Jon. Bastard Bowl Get Hype.
My hype level for Clegange Bowl is on life support after A. Ron's rather beautiful talk about how it would ruin the redemptive arc. However, now that the Sparrow is on the defensive and the Mountain is smashing heads, I think the Sparrow might have to call in a certified bad ass. They better have a lot of chickens. GET HYPE is in recovery.
I wonder if Ramsay will take some of Roose's advice and not march on Castle Black to further perturb the North. He'll send a remixed Pink Letter with Rickon Stark from the Umbers (whose banners you see before the "gift" mention in the preview) as hostage to draw out Jon Snow, Sansa whom he presumes rides for the wall, and any Stark loyalists they can muster. He thinks the northern houses "loyal" to him is more than enough manpower but eventually gets betrayed in a remix Grand Northern Conspiracy.
I think the Unsullied can open up that tomb in no time seeing the elaborate way they torn down that pyramid harpy last season.
When I get some time, I hope to photoshop a decent "The psychiatrist is in. 5 cents" over top of it.
And instead of being wrapped in the tree, it was more like he was just holding on to a root, playing train conductor. "Choo choo!"
Somewhat of an improvement over last year, so I'll give them that. And it is Max Von Sydow.
Also, did Melisandre swing by and trim his hair and beard too since we had seen him last? He was quite the hairy tree wizard!
This is actually one area where the show has handled it better than the books. Ramsay killing Roose actually makes sense. Ramsay is bold enough to want to kill him. And, unlike most of the book stuff, getting rid of Roose makes sense in terms of helping unite the north, since Roose participated in the treason, but not Ramsay.
The Ramsay plot is the worst part of the books for me. Book Ramsay attacks other major lords and other major houses, and is suspected by Roose of killing his firstborn, and yet Ramsay keeps getting by through a massive plot armor (the way he survives Rodrik is ridiculous). Show Ramsay has been cruel only to no names and the Iron Born, and was discreet with Sansa. In other words, it makes sense that Kastarks and others would side with Ramsay versus Roose and the Freys. We know Ramsay is crazy, but from the point of view of the average northern lord Ramsay is untainted by the red wedding while being the one to get rid of the Ironborn and Stannis, which would make him much more popular than Roose and his Frey wife.
So... did Mel just unblock Jon so he could warg back into his body? Or did her magic do jack shit and it was a coincidence?
If her magic worked, wouldn't she have had some sort of fainting spell or get weak since it takes from her? Did she believe enough?
Also, the part where Bran says "You finally show me what I want to see and then tell me to stop." Its kind of a big metaphor for the show. They are not pulling punches anymore and going all out.
Jamie was a boss.
Another beautiful scene with Sansa where she finds out about her sister!
So stoked. Best episode since the end of season 2?
"Fuck em then. Fuck all of them. I'm not a devout man. Obviously. Seven gods. Drown gods. Tree gods. It's all the same. I'm not asking the Lord of Light for help... I'm asking the woman who showed me that miracles exist!"
I find it dumb and uninteresting and it breaks my suspension of disbelief to belive that anyone at castle black would fallow zombie John. Why does Davos even trust Mel? He has always treated her with mistrust because he suspected right, that she was leading Stannis to his death.
Now that thst rant is out of the way, I like most of everything else. However it is getting really hard to be invested in any one story line when all we get are 5 min clips before it switches perspective. I really hope once we are in the meat of this season they take some more focused looks at each plot.
I'm probably going to end up hating how this ends, because for me the the magical part of the story never really holds up. And I have a really bad feeling that all the fan fic theories of zomg dragons and magic save the day are going to be right.
Imo this is always the part of the story GRRM never wanted to write. He found the political machinations way more interesting. It is just unfortunate he started the series teasing a war with magic ice demons.
Also listened to the instant take. I don't feel lIke I even need to argue the literally merit of this, when the reaction of people podcasting and analyzing this are like "well he is back we all talked about it and knew it was coming". It GRRM intended to write the most trite and tropy cliffhanger he could, he succeeded.
This is nothing more than GRRM not liking the fact that Jon was stuck at the wall due to his gardening approach of writing. This is a cheap as fuck narrative cheat to get him out of a corner he wrote himelf into.
Also remeber a legit heir to Winterfell still exists. Jon could find himself in quite a pickle if the Wildings worship him as a god and make him Kind of the North, only to have Rickon ride in with a Northern army proclaiming him true King of the North.
I have a feeling all this continued fighting is just going to make the North that much weaker for when the White Walkers come south.
Would have been good to at least have him give some lip service to the idea that Jon is somehow necessary to the survival of the North. Or the realm as a whole, since I'm not sure what love Davos has for the North.
Ultimately I just wanted it to happen enough that I didn't care, and really enjoyed everything up at the wall.