HBO Asia releases the title of season 7 episode 4

EuronHelenSloan

We now know the title for Game of Thrones season 7 episode 4 and … it’s pretty foreboding.

According to HBO Asia, the title for episode 7×04 is “The Spoils of War.” Oh dear. Let’s process this.

Here’s what we have to go on: last episode, Daenerys announced plans to move on Casterly Rock and Euron acquired his promised “gifts” for Cersei. In the preview for episode 3, Cersei mentions having drawn “first blood” and, lest we forget, the name of that episode is “The Queen’s Justice.”

So, episode 3 is going to be brutal, isn’t it? We’re going to be getting the Queens’ justice (note that placement of the apostrophe) and episode 4 will be probably the fallout. Gods help us all.

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110 Comments

  1. Wow! Things are getting serious. I cannot help but think the spoils will be spoiled – not as in spoilers but as in burned to the ground kind of spoiled.

  2. This is indeed a very interesting and foreboding title. Wasn’t expecting anything in that vein at all.

    Particularly curious when you consider that according to LEAK SPOILERS

    those who have read the leaks, episode 4 is meant to contain another battle, and is therefore not just an aftermath episode

    .

    I’m hoping they release the other titles fairly quickly, I’m really curious about them. “Dragonstone” and “Stormborn” were pretty lackluster/bland titles in my opinion, but “The Queen’s Justice” and “The Spoils of War” are considerably more intriguing. Hope Episodes 5-7 have similarly interesting titles.

  3. Interesting title.Btw love how BoB has already entered the Westerosi lexicon.They do love their alliterations lol.

  4. I thought it’s a reference to the adage “to the victor go the spoils”, i.e. the loot or the bounty – but knowing GoT it will have a double meaning.

    Maybe they’ll focus a bit more on the effects of war on the civilian population. (My semi-tinfoil theory is that there’s going to be mass famine very soon. The only one with the foresight to add body weight as a buffer is Hot Pie )

  5. Pouring one out for ‘Field Of Fire’. ‘Spoils Of War’ is good too. My guess is it refers to(leaks):

    Jaime sacking Highgarden and bringing back food to KL. Only to be ambushed by the D,D&D(Dragons,Daenerys, and Dothraki).
  6. I prefer the episode title many of us were guessing, but, it’s just a title.

    Those Nielsen numbers are great again. A typical drop a bit from the premiere but still second highest for the series. Sweet!

  7. Queen’s Justice is not going to be good for Ellaria. I think Yara survives somehow.

    Episode 4, not 3 will be the actual war episode.

  8. Jenny:
    Interesting title.Btw love how BoB has already entered the Westerosi lexicon.They do love their alliterations lol.

    IKR? I love the Battle of the Bastards!

    At Schroedinger’s Stannis session at the conference, the Stannis fan panelists, which were all the panelists but one, argued that Stannis wouldn’t die the same way in the books. And I was thinking to myself, yeah, Brienne wasn’t even up there, so he’ll likely die some other way. But the panelists seemed convinced that Stannis would actually defeat Ramsay and go on to do battle elsewhere.

    I tried not to comment and question so much because I know I can be a Hermione, but here I just had to ask, what about the BotB? I’d deduced well before the film spoilers came out with Kit pics that we’d have a “Battle of the Bastards” with the pink letter and with the alliteration and buildup of these two powerful bastards. That name is just too good and too intentionally built by both George and D&D to be ignored. But the Stannis panelists seemed to think that Stannis surviving was more important than the BotB, unfortunately.

  9. omg
    I have no idea what this means
    but I am soooooooo scaredddddddddd that is a scary ass title

    as for next episode… Lena did say she was a “fat cow” to someone this season.. my guess that is Tyene… in front of her mom… and then Ellaria. lol

  10. Ten Bears:
    I thought it’s a reference to the adage “to the victor go the spoils”, i.e. the loot or the bounty – but knowing GoT it will have a double meaning.

    Yes, yes. A double entendre is what I meant.

  11. Dee Stark:
    omg
    I have no idea what this means
    but I am soooooooo scaredddddddddd that is a scary ass title

    as for next episode… Lena did say she was a “fat cow” to someone this season.. my guess that is Tyene… in front of her mom… and then Ellaria. lol

    I’m thinking Jaime, in the way she tosses him aside for two good hands.

  12. Ginevra,

    I actually believe Stannis could defeat the Boltons in the book.

    But the show really created a much stronger investment in Jon, and definitely had spent a couple seasons building up the parallels between him and Ramsay. So I like what they did.
    I never understood the Mannis fandom, even in the books where he is a more tolerable character.
    I still believe many people constructed their own character from headcannons and fan forums.

  13. Just wishful thinking – because I’m an Arya partisan (even though she was kind of rude to Hot Pie*): I’d like “The Princess of Winterfell” as an episode title.

    * for what it’s worth, Arya’s refusal to answer/changing the subject when Hot Pie asked “What happened to you, Arry?” reminded me of Sansa’s evasiveness last season (6×2) when Brienne asked Sansa: “What happened to you at Winterfell?”

  14. HelloThere,

    He could. But he won’t. We must be getting the Battle of the Bastards in the book, as well. It is too crucial to Jon’s legitimacy as a warrior and a leader to omit.

  15. I love the title!

    Given what’s on deck for this episode, I know people were quite set on “Field of Fire” as the title. I really liked it as well – it would be, as Sam said in the most recent episode, a bit more poetic. But given what precipitates the battle in question, I feel like “The Spoils of War” works equally well.

    Tim of House Deddings,

    Amazing! While the ceiling for the show’s audience increases every year, this season looks like it will follow the standard track for Live+SD viewership: a new series high for the premiere, a (very) slight dip for Episode 2, and then things remain relatively level until the finale, at which point we should see another new series high.

  16. Dee Stark:
    Tim of House Deddings,

    I also heard that people had a free preview of HBO for the premiere… so that could have helped?

    Friends of mine that watch when the box set comes out didn’t notice until the episode was about to air. Unfortunately they hadn’t seen 7×01 yet and didn’t catch the replay leading into the new episode so they had to skip watching 7×02.

  17. Dee Stark:
    omg
    I have no idea what this means
    but I am soooooooo scaredddddddddd that is a scary ass title

    as for next episode… Lena did say she was a “fat cow” to someone this season.. my guess that is Tyene… in front of her mom… and then Ellaria. lol

    Look out, Dee! Those are the spoilers of war 🙂 . Seriously, Jaime will surely recall that this kind of punishment surely echoes Rickard and Brandon Stark’s punishment by the Mad King. So of the Mad King’s check boxes 1) Use wildfire in KL, 2) Execute a parent and child in the cruelest was possible, and 3) be killed by Jaime Lannister, only the third has not happened with Cersei. I still think Arya will kill Cersei, but Jaime is still decent and he clearly is unhappy with her. It’s ironic how in each of the three factions–Jon’s, Dany’s, and Cersei’s there’s major dissent.

    Ten Bears,

    Agreed, TB. And considering Jaime is worried about waning food and supplies, perhaps he’s about to take the Lannister army in a shopping trolley to gather some. I just hope we don’t see Arya’s nice soldier mates from Episode 1 get killed.

  18. Mmm, the title reminds me of the penultimate episode of Rome season 1 called “The Spoils”. In that episode Brutus turns against Ceasar. Though of course Rome has nothing to do with GoT, but still.

  19. Ryan:
    Queen’s Justice is not going to be good for Ellaria. I think Yara survives somehow.

    Episode 4, not 3 will be the actual war episode.

    Yeah and next episode looks like (spoilers from the episode 3 preview)

    the CR battle. So looks like we’re getting 3 battles in a row. The sea battle, the CR battle, and whatever is in episode 4
  20. I think we should get it over and done with next week.

    Jon should walk into the hall and just casually strip his clothes off and Dany follows suit and they just make with the sex on the throne while everyone watches uncomfortably.

    Then we can just cut to adds on a pre-orgasm shot, or better still, another cut to a pie ‘exploding’.

    Better than crashing waves on a beach.

  21. Ten Bears:
    I thought it’s a reference to the adage “to the victor go the spoils”, i.e. the loot or the bounty – but knowing GoT it will have a double meaning.

    Maybe they’ll focus a bit more on the effects of war on the civilian population. (My semi-tinfoil theory is that there’s going to be mass famine very soon.The only one with the foresight to add body weight as a buffer is Hot Pie )

    That makes sense actually, Ten Bears, – are you a book reader? I went to the books after the show and I’m not one of those people who thinks EVERYTHING is the books surpasses the show but Mr Martin did a good job in the novels of bringing out the haplessness of ordinary folk caught up in the nobles’ wars. Harvests being “spoiled” – that sort of thing. It’s been brought out to some extent in the show – the riot in Kings Landing when Myrcella leaves for Dorne in season 2, and although I didn’t like the character of Talisa she did mention that the soldier who lost a foot had been an ordinary lad in Lannisport before he was conscripted for war (I still think the sassy medicine woman cheeking a Medieval king was out of place in a series which while being a fantasy prides itself on having a healthy dose of realism among the dragons and other mythical elements). I’ve gone on a bit – but with your reference to the spoils going to the victor, while I’ve avoided leaks on the whole but I did see

    the photographs of Euron parading Ellaria and Tyene and Yara which made me think of how ancient Romans used to parade their captives through the streets of Rome. Though of course it looks as if the parade will be in episode 3 rather than episode 4 (i.e. before the “spoils of war” meaning/s is/are revealed).
  22. Ginevra,

    I must commend you for your restraint. I wouldn’t have been able to stomach it. I would have broken down and retorted, or – perhaps more likely – I would have walked out of the panel in disgust.

    In general, I’ll be perfectly fine if “The Winds of Winter” is never released. But one of the reasons I do want that book eventually is so that we can finally get a reality check on this whole Schrodinger’s Stannis nonsense and, preferably, drive a stake through it. People can write as many 10,000 word Reddit essays as they want about Stannis’s brilliant frozen-lake gambit to defeat the Frey troops (the Westerosi equivalent of paper people) that the Boltons sent out as sacrificial lambs, but sooner or later they need to bite down on the hard truth that their beloved “One True King” is doomed, as is his daughter (confirmed), his cause, and his falsely inflated sense of mythos. (I do think he will hold out longer than he did in the show, but that’s also because I believe that Jon will spend most of “The Winds of Winter” sitting in an ice cell, deceased, while Martin writes several trippy chapters about his consciousness floating – something that the show wasn’t going to do. But once Jon comes back, I believe things will play out in a relatively similar fashion to what we saw in the show. I could be wrong, but this quixotic belief on the part of certain Stannis fans that the show took away his grand victory over the Boltons so they could give it to Jon (who all but the most deluded must acknowledge is a far more important character) annoys me to no end.
  23. Stark Raven’ Rad: Look out, Dee! Those are the spoilers of war . Seriously, Jaime will surely recall that this kind of punishment surely echoes Rickard and Brandon Stark’s punishment by the Mad King. So of the Mad King’s check boxes 1) Use wildfire in KL, 2) Execute a parent and child in the cruelest was possible, and 3) be killed by Jaime Lannister, only the third has not happened with Cersei. I still think Arya will kill Cersei, but Jaime is still decent and he clearly is unhappy with her. It’s ironic how in each of the three factions–Jon’s, Dany’s, and Cersei’s there’s major dissent.

    You think Arya will kill her???
    So you think she will go back to KL and not home?

  24. Please, no spoilers. I hadn’t seen the photographs Dame of Mercia refers to.
    I don’t watch trailers or previews either.

  25. Jared,

    For many of these people, their own personal love for a tertiary character is more important than the story as a whole.

    A character who they have completely rewritten in their minds into someone else entirely.

  26. Jared,

    Here’s the problem : Stannis can’t both sacrifice Shireen and die to the Boltons.

    It has to be one or the other, since she’s at Castle Black. That’s why I believe he may win against the Boltons. It has nothing to do with who is more important, obviously Jon is more important. It just has to do with logistics.

    I think Shireen being sacrificed can only have the proper impact if Stannis is the one doing it. It seems reasonable to think he’ll defeat the Boltons, live to fight another day, and sacrifice his daughter at some later, more dire point.

    Otherwise, it means Melisandre will sacrifice Shireen on her own, in which case the show’s decision to go pretty far out of its way to have Stannis do it is even more questionable.

    Either way, the show had Stannis burn his daughter, and head into a losing battle against Ramsay like an incompetent fool. One of those two things is not happening in the novels.

    “Winds” is opening with the battle for Winterfell, and Shireen still lives. Something pretty massive will be different from the show.

  27. HelloThere,

    That’s not it at all, it’s just a question of logic. How can Stannis sacrifice Shireen in the books if he dies at Winterfell ?

    The battle is about to begin and Shireen is at the Wall. I do think Stannis will end up burning her in the books, so in order for that to happen, he can’t die to the Boltons.

  28. Markus Stark,

    True
    I think the plot point of melisandre pushing a man to burn his own daughter to no real result seems like something I’d imagine happening in the books.

    There is no emotional weight if she just does it of her own will

  29. Grandmaester Flash,

    Sorry Grandmaester – I have avoided leaks myself if I can. The photos I alluded to were taken by (I think) members of the public or maybe it was photojournalists – who took photographs while GoT was shooting in Spain (I think in whatever city stood in for Kings Landing during the making of GoT season 7). I just took it for granted it was okay to mention them because they were in the public domain but I’ll be mindful to be careful of what I post in future. Don’t make me drink any of your ghastly Grandmaesterish concoctions please for a slip of the computer keyboard!

  30. What if Stannis loses the battle but survives himself (just like in the Battle of Blackwater) and goes back to the wall to sacrifice Shireen as a last resort? At this point I presume he’d go mad tho.

  31. On another note,

    I can’t wait to see Cersei relish in ending the Dorne plot in a spectacularly cruel way *insert Mr Burns “excellent” gif*

    Not really a spoiler, mostly speculation.

  32. Jack Bauer 24: Yeah and next episode looks like (spoilers from the episode 3 preview)

    Let’s see if I can get the spoiler box to work. I think the third battle is

    LEAK SPOILERS

    The battle at Highgarden where Jamie gets Olena to drink poison.
  33. I can’t get the spoiler box to work no matter what I try. What am I doing wrong?

  34. Dragonstone – Daenerys’ arrival, Sam discovers that the isle has dragon glass, Jon mentions dragon glass to his northerners.
    Stormborn – Daenerys’ day of birth is recalled, in a stormy sea battle, Euron destroys Yara’s fleet and effectively ends the ruling family of Dorne.
    The Queens’ Justice – the plural indicates more than one queen (at present we have two), will mete out “justice”. So the title refers to something involving Daenerys and Cersei, separately.
    The Spoils of War – somehow the title will connect to Daenerys’ story, and either or both Cersei’s and Jon’s stories, if following the same pattern.

  35. Grandmaester Flash:
    Please, no spoilers.I hadn’t seen the photographs Dame of Mercia refers to.
    I don’t watch trailers or previews either.

    I’d love some guidance from the official Watchers as to what constitutes a spoiler. IMO, something that is officially released by HBO like photos and trailers released by HBO should never be considered a spoiler, although I’d be fine with it being off-limits in the Unsullied posts, threads, and forums because those areas are specifically for the most spoiler-averse peeps in the fandom. However, I would be shocked if official HBO statements, photos, and videos were considered spoilers worthy of covering in the regular, general areas.

    I’d also be surprised if anything shared officially by Watchers outside of spoiler greyscale (love it!) covering were not fair game for us to share outside of spoiler greyscale covering.

    If we as posters should be covering commentary that is officially covered by HBO or by Watchers or by both, please let us know. I’d love to know for the record either way. Thank you.

  36. Ginevra,

    It depends actually, Benioff and Weiss have been consolidating storylines for a long time now and the show is becoming the standard we judge on. It seems weird because of that to think something may happen differently in the not-yet-published books, but it really isn’t.

    Hardhome for example, was crucial to be shown for Jon to be believed about the threat from the North. No Northern House has seen the Army of the Dead, yet they believe he saw it, and they now know that Valyrian steel and dragonglass is essential. Crucial details. Also, show Jon is fond of reminding ALL that he’s the only one who saw it. It is THE main point why not one noble laughs at wildings manning the Wall at Eastwatch. Yet books never had Jon there… So you see why I wouldn’t be surprised if BoB never happens in the Winds or maybe it does but not they way we saw it. Who knows.

    I really think when Martin, Benioff and Weiss said different roads to the same conclusion, they meant it.

  37. Markus Stark:
    Jared,

    Here’s the problem : Stannis can’t both sacrifice Shireen and die to the Boltons.

    I have faith that George is smart enough to figure out a way to have Stannis both sacrifice Shireen and lose to that battle. He is iron. He’ll break before he bends.

  38. Totally forgot to comment on the title: #badass and I wonder if while we all expect something in KL and Cersei taking revenge on Ellaria and Bad Poosey, it will turn out to be about something else entirely… It happened before.

  39. Ginevra,

    No matter how smart George is, it seems complicated to have Stannis teleport to the Wall and then back to Winterfell. The battle is imminent. It’s the opening chapters of “Winds”.

    If it were the show then yeah, maybe teleportation would be possible, but not in the books.

  40. TormundsWoman,

    I have absolutely no doubt the books will be quite different, and yet the same. AAR in the books will be the same in the show. The major heroes of the books will be the same in the show. The major villains of the books will be the same in the show. And it isn’t that the BotB was so important to the plot that I think it must be included: rather, it is crucial to establishing the character of our hero and thrusting his arc forward, establishing him as a hero not just to the Wildlings but to the North, which will be crucial for him to become KitN and KotSK and AAR. That, and BotB is a title I deduced from the pink letter foreshadowing, years before the pink letter appeared in the show and before the battle was named by the show.

  41. TormundsWoman:
    Ginevra,

    It depends actually, Benioff and Weiss have been consolidating storylines for a long time now and the show is becoming the standard we judge on. It seems weird because of that to think something may happen differently in the not-yet-published books, but it really isn’t.

    Hardhome for example, was crucial to be shown for Jon to be believed about the threat from the North. No Northern House has seen the Army of the Dead, yet they believe he saw it, and they now know that Valyrian steel and dragonglass is essential. Crucial details. Also, show Jon is fond of reminding ALL that he’s the only one who saw it. It is THE main point why not one noble laughs at wildings manning the Wall at Eastwatch. Yet books never had Jon there… So you see why I wouldn’t be surprised if BoB never happens in the Winds or maybe it does but not they way we saw it. Who knows.

    I really think when Martin, Benioff and Weiss said different roads to the same conclusion, they meant it.

    I agree. Battle of the Bastards was necessary for the purposes of the show, there’s no reason why Jon’s rise to power can’t happen differently in the novels.

  42. Markus Stark:
    Ginevra,

    No matter how smart George is, it seems complicated to have Stannis teleport to the Wall and then back to Winterfell. The battle is imminent. It’s the opening chapters of “Winds”.

    If it were the show then yeah, maybe teleportation would be possible, but not in the books.

    But Shireen could come to him, during a long and drawn out battle….

  43. Markus Stark,

    Or Stannis could lose the battle and still survive, like he did in the show, and then later reunite with Mel and family and sacrifice his daughter to get back on track.

  44. Ginevra,

    Stannis will eventually die, but I just hope that GRRM gives the seasoned battle commander a better send off than the show did. Perhaps in the book he survives long enough to join forces with a resurrected Jon for the BotB.

    Ginevra,

    If Shireen is burned it’ll be by her crazy af mom at the Wall. May Melisandre sees a vision and the queen decides to burn her to help Stannis who is far away. No way Stannis agrees to that, imho. That seemed too out of character in the show.

  45. Markus Stark,

    I believe Stannis will lose the battle and retreat to the Wall. I don’t believe Brienne or some Bolton will kill him. Quite honestly, it wouldn’t surprise me if he died in some inglorious way, say a sickness.

  46. WallyFrench,

    D&D have said point blank that George told them about three shocking twists he had planned. One was ‘Hold the door’, one comes at the end of the story, and the other was that Stannis sacrifices Shireen. Not Selyse, not Mel, but Stannis.

  47. IMO, something that is officially released by HBO like photos and trailers released by HBO should never be considered a spoilers.

    They aren’t. The photos Dame were talking about are very far from officially released content, being paparazzi filming pics, and discussion of it should never have been left uncovered.

  48. Kay: Queens’ justice

    Kay: The Queens’ Justice – the plural indicates more than one queen (at present we have two), will mete out “justice”. So the title refers to something involving Daenerys and Cersei, separately.

    Cersei’s will likely involve Ellaria, Tyene and Yara.

    Could be that Dany learns of Euron’s attack and finds out or believes there is a traitor at Dragonstone…

  49. I’m expecting the worst in the next episode, especially concerning Casterly Rock. Mainly because all the previous shots of the fight in previews indicate the unsullied win, D&D setting viewers up. Remember CR has no economic value anymore, Tywin told Cersei the gold underneath has run dry, and therefore no point keeping lots of troops there…but…she’s smart enough to realize Tyrion knows all the weaknesses, and therefore I’m sure she has a surprise waiting for anyone who takes the castle.

  50. Tyrion Pimpslap,

    Ok you’ve got my full attention however indifferent this reaction may make you. Any chance of posting a link to specifically THAT statement. Stannis sacrifices his daughter, not Selyse, not Mel? I’m not talking about an edited clip from behind the scenes where the voiceover blends in from one shot to Benioff’s face and he never actually says that Sannis sacrifices Shireen but that when they heard this from Martin (Shireen being sacrificed) they were horrified (or something like that)?

    I’m all ears and eyes! I’d love to be disappointed and you unable to provide proof, but I’m fortified enough if you do. I can take it, I’m a big girl and big girls don’t cry!

  51. A Dornish Tyrell:
    Lady Lyanna Mormont for the iron throne!,

    Please, cover your spoilers!

    The tag is [ spoiler] [/ spoiler] (without the spaces).

    Please, be considerate of the ones who wish to remain unspoilled.

    I did and it didn’t pop up with the spoiler box. So I tried to delete it right away. No matter what I try the spoiler box doesn’t work. That’s why I don’t post spoilers.

  52. tyjon,

    This war does have to involve losses on either side you know?

    You can’t just have a Cersei home run for six episodes.

  53. We do need to clarify what is meant by a ‘spoiler’.

    Is it any information we know about future episodes, even from those sources that the show has released, or is it just unofficial information which has not been released by the show.?

    You can’t have interesting on line conversation about the show, if no one can talk about anything they’ve seen or heard at all because other posters are living in a dark room, with no mobile phone, TV or computer, between every episode.

  54. Lady Lyanna Mormont for the iron throne!:

    A Dornish Tyrell:
    Lady Lyanna Mormont for the iron throne!,

    Please, cover your spoilers!

    The tag is [ spoiler] [/ spoiler] (without the spaces).

    Please, be considerate of the ones who wish to remain unspoilled.

    I did and it didn’t pop up with the spoiler box. So I tried to delete it right away. No matter what I try the spoiler box doesn’t work. That’s why I don’t post spoilers.

    Are you omitting the spaces?
    If you use the preview function, you will see if the spoiler is in place.
    Check before posting.

  55. I don’t think it’s a sensible way to wage war by letting all of your commanders know all of your plans.

    There was no need to let Ollena, Yara, and Ellaria know of the secret mission to take Casterly Rock.

    God, I really, really hope they don’t cheat us next episode and we get a couple of wide shots of the Rock and a clockwork model in the intro.

    It is the largest fortress in the seven kingdoms after Harrenhal. I always imagine it as what Gibraltar would have looked like if the British had been more ambitious and just built a castle into the actual rock.

    And I want to see Highgarden too. By the end of the series, I want to have seen all the major castles and then I want models of them so I can be fleeced.

    Oh, has anyone else noticed that the model of Dragonstone in the intro doesn’t look anything like the final design they’ve come up with for the show?

  56. Ginevra,

    I like the “deduced from the letter” part! I didn’t think it as, you know… Jon kind of died on us.

    I think the problem with my view in this short and consolidated rise to power as Markus Stark puts it, is that it would feel a bit forced in the books, as the only one I see as rallying the North is truly Sansa at the point we are at right now. Yes, I said it. But I believe in the North Remembers! Also, for the most of those book lords, Stark vs Snow counts. And they STILL have some living Starks before Snow. We’ll see if Martin does rally the North behind Jon, not Bran, Sansa or Rickon who’s on the damn island not with the Umbers anyway.

    #DifferentRoads!

  57. Sue the Fury: They aren’t. The photos Dame were talking about are very far from officially released content, being paparazzi filming pics, and discussion of it should never have been left uncovered.

    Thank you, Sue!

  58. TormundsWoman,

    I reckon it is exactly as Jared said. Some fans won’t believe until they see the words written by Martin himself. Some won’t believe, even then. I suppose we will all have to wait. I ain’t as impatient as I used to be.

  59. Lady Lyanna Mormont for the iron throne!: I did and it didn’t pop up with the spoiler box.So I tried to delete it right away.No matter what I try the spoiler box doesn’t work.That’s why I don’t post spoilers.

    Another mistake people make besides putting spaces inside the brackets is capitalizing the s in spoiler. That will also break the code. I didn’t see how you did it before it was fixed…

  60. Sue the Fury: They aren’t. The photos Dame were talking about are very far from officially released content, being paparazzi filming pics, and discussion of it should never have been left uncovered.

    I’m sorry about that and will do my best to stick to “the rules”/be more careful henceforward (I really did think it was public stuff) – mind you there have been times I’ve tried to put spoiler coding in (even when I’ve copied and pasted the spoiler coding) when it hasn’t worked. Believe me, from the time when I was Unsullied I didn’t appreciate folk who tried to “spoil” things and would not deliberately rain on anybody’s parade.

  61. Ginevra:
    TormundsWoman,

    I reckon it is exactly as Jared said.Some fans won’t believe until they see the words written by Martin himself.Some won’t believe, even then.I suppose we will all have to wait.I ain’t as impatient as I used to be.

    Well, there are some people who STILL reckon R+L doesn’t equal J.

  62. Ginevra,

    Lol Yes, Jared is right!!!! some do tend to want to read for themselves a story before they believe someone else’s interpretation of it especially when they’re told there ARE differences. Because everyone is human and we don’t all see eye to eye anyway let alone in such circumstances. Which is why we’re all here debating all kinds of stuff.

    But I would never thought it of Jared to be that annoyed because people on Reddit, don’t see it his way. I was a bit surprised to read that to be honest. Lots of Stannis fans concentrated in a single spot, I assume can cause such a reaction.

  63. Is the episode 4 battle the one that’s supposed to be Battle of the Bastards big? The one with Jaime charging through the field?

  64. Jonah,

    I don’t know if it will be as big as BOB but the Dany vs Jaime field of fire battle is thought to be episode 4. The biggest battle though should be episode 6 beyond the wall
  65. Tyrion Pimpslap,

    My guess is in the next episode Jame will

    sack Highgarden and kill Olenna, Euron will kill Yara and Cersei will kill Ellaria and the Tynne. At the same time Dany via the unsullied will take Casterley Rock and kill lots of Lannisters. Episode 4 will be Dany ambushing the Lannisters and burning people alive which will start Varys and Tyrion to doubt her as the right person to back
  66. Ten Bears:
    Maybe they’ll focus a bit more on the effects of war on the civilian population. (My semi-tinfoil theory is that there’s going to be mass famine very soon.The only one with the foresight to add body weight as a buffer is Hot Pie )

    Nice one, Ten Bears! And he obviously has been preparing well since episode 4… And as he said himself: “I’m like you Ary, I’m a survivor! Every fighter has their own style! 😀

  67. Stark Raven’ Rad: Look out, Dee!Those are the spoilers of war 🙂 .Seriously, Jaime will surely recall that this kind of punishment surely echoes Rickard and Brandon Stark’s punishment by the Mad King. So of the Mad King’s check boxes 1) Use wildfire in KL, 2) Execute aparent and child in the cruelest was possible, and 3) be killed by Jaime Lannister, only the third has not happened with Cersei. I still think Arya will kill Cersei, but Jaime is still decent and he clearly is unhappy with her. It’s ironic how in each of the three factions–Jon’s, Dany’s, and Cersei’s there’s major dissent.

    Ten Bears,

    Agreed, TB. And considering Jaime is worried about waning food and supplies, perhaps he’s about to take the Lannister army in a shopping trolley to gather some. I just hope we don’t see Arya’s nice soldier mates from Episode 1 get killed.

    I’m glad you brought this up, SRR, because I haven’t seen it mentioned in the recaps or comments. I mean Cersei ticking many of the Mad King boxes and Jaime being unhappy about it/with her.

    Now, I’ve always got my Jaime goggles firmly in place so I’m biased, and I’ve only watched the episode twice straight through (no pausing, rewinding etc.) between 4am and 6am this morning (it’s now past 11pm where I live), so I could be mistaken…

    The scene where Cersei addresses the lords from the throne, she details how bad the Mad King was and how bad his daughter will be (Cersei did it brilliantly and masterfully, good on her). Now, I was watching Jaime all the time because NCW is such an expert on subtle fascial expressions. It was also notable that the editing cut to Jaime’s face time and again. What I got out of it was that Jaime was, indeed, ticking Mad King boxes in his mind. Almost every cruelty and misdeed Cersei laid at the Targs’ door, she has done herself. Jaime almost gave some side-eye to this Mad Queen sister of his.

    He’s still on board, though, and he will fight for the Lannisters – what else could he do, at this point? But it’s not wholehearted, he has doubts and even scruples. (OK, Jaime goggles, lol!)

    As to the food situation. Jaime is right, armies need food, but in the books, during his Riverlands sojourn,

    Jaime is also concerned for the impending food shortage about to hit the smallfolk, in contrast to Cersei, and earlier their loathsome son Joffrey, both of whom couldn’t care less.

    Book!Jaime and Show!Jaime have diverged so much since S3/early S4 that I’ve learned to live with it, and I understand why D&D have chosen to flip the twins and make Cersei the more central, in-depth character and Jaime a secondary character in her story. The show is better for it. (Though it’s still pretty frustrating to Book!Jaime fans, lol!)

    Sorry for writing yet another Jaime essay. 🙁 I just can’t help myself.

  68. Ryan,

    Yara surviving would seem a little dumb given the narrative, I suspect she will be tortured then killed next episode. (guess not spoiler)

  69. HelloThere,

    Is that possible?

    I think the “battle” beyond the Wall will be frightening and consist of thousands more (beings), but most of them are dead. I believe the leaks were saying Jon’s party is small, or just a dozen or so to include the names we’ve heard and seen in trailers. I think it sounds and looks like it will be more of an escape attempt with some fighting and dramatic incidents than a real, true battle. I think they simply run, become cornered or closed off from escape and are then rescued by D. It should be exciting but I don’t think they’re going to go too big on the first living vs dead battle. They have to save that for S8.
  70. The Spoils of War is an episode title that seems full of foreboding. I don’t think it heralds any good for one or both sides in the conflict growing between Cersei and Daenerys.

    Maybe we’ll get more of an idea of some of the meanings/references behind the title when the synopsis is released?

  71. Violator,

    Sadly, it looks like Highgarden and Casterly Rock will NOT appear in the title sequence, as you would be able to spot them in the sweep from the Wall to Oldtown. They did not animate Volantis despite it being a major city and appearing twice.

    Notice we didn’t get a good look of Dragonstone in season 2 (only the silhouette)? That explains its model.

  72. OT and I apologise if this has already been said but have you seen the wall down at Eastwatch in opening credits? Well I think it is 🤔

  73. Dame of Mercia,

    I am not a book reader and I avoid “leaks” like the plague. I prefer to rewatch actual episodes because there’s almost always something I missed the first -or second – time around.

    One thing I started noticing on my rewatches was the recurring theme – sometimes even in background images – was the destruction of arable land (eg Tywin: “Burn the villages. Burn the farms.”) The conclusion of my favorite GoT scene of all time, the last nine minutes of 4×1 “Two Swords”, was a fist-pumping moment when Arya and Sandor rode off, the former with her own horse and Needle on her hip, and the latter stuffing his face with chicken. But in the background, the farmlands are charred and smoking.
    Anyway, after a whike I began to notice that just about in every episode there’s a reference to farmers conscripted to fight instead of harvesting; agricultural economy in shambles because of terrorism; BwoB trying to save the farmland because the Lords of Westeros are trying to destroy it, etc. (I think Angiy and Thoros joked about Hot Pie’s girth, noting “half the country’s starving – and look at this one.”)
    But now that “winter has truly come”, nobody is going to be able to grow anything. I figure the farmers haven’t been able to store much food, especially because of the wars and upheaval. (It seemed like every Sandor + Arya scene featured dead, robbed, or wounded farmers and merchants.) Amd let’s not forget Tyrion calling Joffrey an idiot for wanting to kill people rioting because they’re starving – all because of a war he started.

    So anyway, I just assumed all of these references and images are harbingers of a catastrophic famine. As if the people don’t have enough on their plate (pardon the pun) with a Zombie Army bearing down on them, and dueling monarchs trying to destroy each other.

    PS Now I know why Sandor is eating ALL the time.

  74. talvikorppi: I mean Cersei ticking many of the Mad King boxes and Jaime being unhappy about it/with her.

    Oh, it’s definitely on many a fan’s mind!

    It was also notable that the editing cut to Jaime’s face time and again. What I got out of it was that Jaime was, indeed, ticking Mad King boxes in his mind. Almost every cruelty and misdeed Cersei laid at the Targs’ door, she has done herself. Jaime almost gave some side-eye to this Mad Queen sister of his.

    His wariness is subtle but escalating. I enjoyed how Jaime wondered aloud if Cersei will have him killed, when actually he is probably wondering if he is indeed in a deja vu situation for his own pending actions! I found Cersei’s speech to be amazingly hypocritical. She is the Mad Queen. The tolerance of those listening to her! It’s only a matter of time…and Jaime is the only Lannister who hasn’t used wildfire yet!

  75. Hodors Bastard,

    I don’t think Jaime would ever use wildfire. He’s got a trauma about it, after being one of the Mad King’s Kingsguard and having all his youthful ideas of knightly honour and the glory of the Kingsguard dashed. Smelling a man (Ned’s dad Rickard Stark) roasting in his own armour.

    The thing we have to understand about Jaime is that underneath his sarky cynicism, he’s actually a big romantic. (“The things I do for love” could be his motto. Even if “love” is misplaced.) I think the show made this clear during S2, S3. Since then he’s been treading water and servicing Cersei’s storyline.

    Jaime is a pretty straightforward guy. None of the political scheming his siblings Cersei and Tyrion are so good at. He’s not interested. In a weird way, he’s like Ned Stark. Sure, he resents Ned judging him but (book info)

    comes to realise it was never Ned, he was just a convenient figure to pin his self-loathing on and so avoid confronting his own demons and guilt.

    Before, he thought he could solve any problem with a sword. Now he has had to resort to thinking and diplomacy, even on the show. He’s not doing so great but at least he’s trying.

  76. Dame of Mercia:

    there have been times I’ve tried to put spoiler coding in (even when I’ve copied and pasted the spoiler coding) when it hasn’t worked.

    That’s why it didn’t work!

    It’s not possible to show the exact spoiler coding – because it would automatically convert to spoiler mode.
    So for demonstration purposes, spaces are put into the coding, with the instruction to omit the spaces when you actually use the coding.
    If you copy and paste it, it won’t work because of the added spaces.

  77. Ginevra: I’m thinking Jaime, in the way she tosses him aside for two good hands.

    I do hope she does this. She and Euron seem made for each other. 🙂 Then Jaime can finally go to the one he truly loves. We know who that is. 🙂

  78. Ten Bears:
    * for what it’s worth, Arya’s refusal to answer/changing the subjectwhen Hot Pie asked “What happened to you, Arry?” reminded me of Sansa’s evasiveness last season (6×2) when Brienne asked Sansa: “What happened to you at Winterfell?”

    That’s a good catch. Yeah, that’s a really hard question to answer. These girls went through a lot of hardships and it will be hard for anyone to talk about what they went through. Now I’m rooting for Arya to go home to WF (fingers crossed). If there’s anyone who can understand and empathize to what happened to them, it’s each other. We probably won’t see that onscreen though and we’ll just have to assume that they filled each other in on their experiences off screen (like with Sansa and Jon last season).

  79. talvikorppi: Before, he thought he could solve any problem with a sword. Now he has had to resort to thinking and diplomacy, even on the show. He’s not doing so great but at least he’s trying.

    It seems like you have pulled back from your initial statement about Jaime’s rising tolerance with Cersei. 🙂 He’s building toward something macabre with Cersei. Jaime’s expressions are too “deja vu” for me to ignore it. He’s forcibly “on-board” (if only to save his family’s name). He sees Tywin and the Mad King in his sister. I wish we had that moment from ADwD

    when Genna Lannister says that Tyrion most resembles Tywin, not Jaime. That will fester within him.

    Plus, we have that map allusion from Ep1 where Jaime is standing on the Fingers and Cersei on the Neck. Plus, I couldn’t help but notice that Jaime’s fake hand (created by Qyburn) is perfectly crafted to fit around a neck and strangle someone. 🙂

    Jaime’s redemption path is a hard sell for me as well. I think he is caught between the iron throne and a hard place now.

    (I doubt he would use wildfire either…but I can’t help but see the Lannister pattern)

  80. HelloThere:
    Jared,

    For many of these people, their own personal love for a tertiary character is more important than the story as a whole.

    A character who they have completely rewritten in their minds into someone else entirely.

    PATCHFACE IS AZOR AHAI! HIS IS THE SONG OF ICE AND FIRE!

  81. Interesting title

    Would say that if it follows the vein of the first few episodes, each faction will have had a victory and a loss of sorts and it would cover the gains of each faction with respect to the fallout

    This is Cersei/Lannister gains
    Dany gains
    Littlefinger/Vale gains
    Jon gains

    I would say Jons gains relate to him going from bastard in E1 to King who can negotiate with Dany over Dragonglass, with Dragonglass to defeat the WW’s which he lost at Hardhome being the spoils of war for him following BoB

    I have tried to keep away from leaks, will say LF spoils relate to the subject matter of the Crypts convo, otherwise why is the Vale forces there still fighting the Northerners battle when they are still part of 7 Kingdoms and the Vale Army is needed in the Vale around SR as all-out-war is breaking out

    Just as an aside, I’ve heard a Dany line about “I was born to rule the 7 Kingdoms and I will” which isn’t actually correct because Rhaegar was and following his death before her birth she was born second-in-line to Viserys

    I’ve actually enjoyed the Queen of the Ashes versus Dragon debate where Dany is getting tugged in two different directions, utlimately her invasion of Westeros is an articulation of Viserys dream, but book Dany longs for the Red Door simple life and show/book Dany might be more Fire & Blood Targaryen Khaleesi more at home at the head of a rampaging Dothraki horde

    I am also hoping it focuses

  82. Tyrion Pimpslap,

    Interesting. I never saw that article. A google search by me came up empty…could you provide a link where you read that?

    tyjon,

    Yo jackass…..WATCH THE SPOILERS!!!!!!!

  83. I’m truly looking forward to the development of the relationship between Jon and Daenerys, as well as whether her actions deteriorate the trust of Tyrion and Varys in her. As for the upcoming episodes and the battles, many of the ‘lesser’ scenes during the shows give fuller meaning to what’s going on.

  84. Dee Stark:
    You think Arya will kill her???
    So you think she will go back to KL and not home?

    Good question, Dee. I’m convinced Arya is going home. She realized that Nymeria had stuck by her pack, so she must join her own, now that she knows Jon is there. Pure speculation: As much as Jaime may want to kill Cersei, he’ll lack the resolve. And with the Great War breaking out, his honour will reassert itself as he’ll feel called to join the fight for the Living. But if Cersei is still in power next season, she’ll be a major obstruction for the Great War effort AND a menace to the people of Kings Landing. Dany, Jon or even the Iron Bank/Faceless Men may require Arya to remove her from the equation.

  85. I think it is referencing the iron bank wanting their money. War cost money as Jamie said in ep 1 so they all need to pay up.

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