[Updated] New photos from Game of Thrones Season 6, Episode 8 “No One”

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Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister Credit: Helen Sloan/HBO
HBO has released this week’s batch of photos from Sunday’s new episode of Game of Thrones, titled “No One.” The season’s eighth episode will feature more action at the siege of Riverrun, and a long-promised confrontation in King’s Landing.

Photos (and spoilers) below the cut!

6/9: Updated with more photos!

Official episode synopsis: While Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) weighs his options, Cersei (Lena Headey) answers a request. Tyrion’s (Peter Dinklage) plans bear fruit. Arya (Maisie Williams) faces a new test.

Cersei will finally be choosing violence in episode 8. Will it be directed immediately and fatally at Lancel? Her cousin/former lover/enemy certainly is risking his life by trying to take on Cersei and the Mountain.

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Eugene Simon as Lancel Lannister Credit: Helen Sloan/HBO
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Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson as The Mountain and Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister Credit: Helen Sloan/HBO
Brienne is back in action this week! With a Lannister flag behind her, you’ll note, which suggests that she’s arrived at Riverrun. A tense reunion with Jaime Lannister is overdue.

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Gwendoline Christie as Brienne of Tarth Credit: Helen Sloan/HBO
Tyrion and Varys have been missing as well these last couple weeks. Here we see them strolling the streets of Meereen, looking very much the noblemen this time. Everything looks pleasant and fairly calm, so clearly something terrible is about to happen in this place.

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Conleth Hill as Varys and Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister Credit: Macall B. Polay/HBO
Update: more photos courtesy of Farfarawaysite!

We see that Brienne and Pod have arrived at Riverrun. The inevitable meetup between Jaime and Brienne is one fans have been looking forward to for ages.

brienne pod

Jaime

Cersei with her backup (The Mountain and Qyburn) look to be approaching the throne. Will we finally get official news or plans about that trial Cersei has mentioned so often? Going by the marks on the Mountain’s armor, it looks like this takes place after the likely altercation with the Faith Militant.

Cersei Mountain Qyburn

Tommen on the throne with uncle Kevan and Grand Maester Pycelle by his side:

Kevan Tommen Pycelle

A similar shot of Lancel to one further up, when someone’s choosing violence and someone else will not be having a good day:

Lancel

We’re back to Meereen this week, checking in with Missandei, looking rather  serious:

missandei

Another new red priestess on the scene in Meereen this season, played by Melanie Liburd.  Earlier this season, the High Priestess Kinvara agreed to send more of her followers out to preach the word of Daenerys:

priestess

Tyrion and Varys are walking through the square where the priestess is preaching. Is Tyrion not a fan of her words? Between Kinvara, the red priest, and the Volantis priestess last year, it seems as though all the followers of R’hllor have unsettled Tyrion.

tyrion

The Waif and her bloody knife, after her attempt on Arya’s life last episode. She doesn’t look confident or smug anymore:

waif

Sue the Fury
Susan Miller, Editor in Chief of WatchersOnTheWall.com

568 Comments

  1. Really looking forward to the interaction between Jaime and Brienne. Also interested in what will happen in Meereen with Tyrion; I kind of want his plan to backfire. I hope we get Daenerys, Bran, and Jon this episode but I doubt we get all 3.

  2. “I choose violence!” – The Sparrows are going to get into some serious trouble…

  3. There’s not that many photos… 🙂
    I’m wondering… are’nt we getting dany this episode?
    Do they want to hide this part for next week? (so we might expect surprises…?)
    I’m thinking the “You’re in the great game now, and the great game is terrifying” speech from Tyrion is supposed to be for Dany.

    And

    Wasn’t Varys supposed to leave Meereen mid-season or so?
  4. Dammnn Tyrion! Looking fine as hell! Does anyone know when the battle of Meereen is supposed to take place?

  5. Can we please get some more Bran before the finale 🙁 come on game of thrones why would you bring benjen back and then ignore that plot for three weeks.

  6. I can’t wait to see the King’s landing confrontation. Going by what we know so far+ interviews + trailers I think this will be the episode where Cersei’s trial trakes place. However, she doesn’t show up. The high sparrow is so bold as to send his men to take Cersei in her cambiers. That’s when she’ll choose violence imo. And then Tommen will hear of this and confront her about her actions in front of all the court. Also I’m surprisingly curious to find out what is going to happen in Meereen. Is it the sons of the harpies? Dragons? Dany’s return?

  7. Gd75,

    I don’t even know how this will all fit in 3 episodes (or 2 considering “The Battle of the Bastards”

  8. Good 2 see Tyrion in new clothes tbh

    Looking forward to Brienne-Jaimie-Blackfish triangle

    Really looking forward to Ser Robert Strong unleashed

    My guess is Lancel will crack and go back to former self. He’s a bit like Selyse in that he awkwardly lived up to aspiratipnal system, but a hard experience sees them look to recover via trying to project on new one instead of truly dealing with it, in this case they overcompensate by projecting religious doctrine, like Shireen burning smashed the facade, Mountain making mincemeat of FM and seeing them terrifiedcwill do same

    In it’s own way the Hound and Brother Ray were similar, though in this case the Hound “cracking” means sadl6 leaving peacevbehind going chicken crazy on some poor fools ass

  9. Cersei is going to fuck shit up.

    And if Jamie is going to be a Lannister and a slave to Cersei – die please.

  10. Apparently i need to prepare myself for the worst, Sansa and Jon sitting this one out which is super annoying because it’s the episode leading to battle. Anyway if this is indeed the case then there’s almost zero chance for other storylines to appear in ep 9 – i would be even more disappointed if they do appear – if the North is absent then i’m most excited for Riverrun, fingers crossed for Blackfish leaving for Winterfell.

  11. These pictures don’t give anything away that we didn’t already expect or know. They must be guarding some gigantic shite going down. I like that Cersei remains so damn smug even though everything she does ends up blowing up in her face.

  12. Dee,

    Basically. I love Jaime and if they make him some lovesick puppy again, I’m going to lose all respect for him from “Kissed by Fire” to now. I think his story and Theon’s are two of the most important in the series. Coming back from the things they “did” or everyone’s interpretations of their actions shows true strength. I hope they don’t piss away Jaime’s redemption. Brienne or Bust.

  13. You all realize that the very fact that Cersei has been bragging about the Mountain means he will somehow get neutralized by the High Sparrow, right?

    Some guesses:
    1) Cersei unleashes him in the scenes where the Faith Militant come to talk to her and the Sparrow then urges Tommen to refuse to allow the Mountain to be used

    2) The Sparrow simply says, “We do not recognize Trial by Combat now.”

    3) The Sparrow submits himself as the Faith’s champion and Tommen/the people refuse to allow the combat to take place

    I don’t see how Sandor gets back in time, and Brother Ray’s faith won’t match up with the High Sparrow’s anyway. Forget Cleganebowl.

  14. Loving Tyrion pic but also in the preview didnt we hear thumping on the roof? If so Mother of TITLES might be home, she could after-all fly there faster than little-finger on his jet pack. I would love to see her land and her and tyrion have a conversation him explaining everything and she simply looks at him and says “Slavery is over” he looks at her and says I made a deal that will do that “She looks at him and says I already took care of it” he looks back and says with what Army and then we hear horns and tyrion goes to the window and there before him is 100,000 Dothraki. “Dany says to him I told you I was going to break the wheel!”

  15. Dee:
    Cersei is going to fuck shit up.

    And if Jamie is going to be a Lannister and a slave to Cersei – die please.

    Jaime tries to be Tywin for a while, that’s his story!
    I can’t believe that people think he will leave the siege and let blackfish walk with soldiers to go to the North. He is the head of house Lannister now, how can he get his own people to respect him if he can’t win an old man??
    Of course he will try to get in Riverrun, for the same reason Ned took the head of the guy in the first episode. He can’t have people not recognise his authority. The thing is how he will get it… in the books he does it in the smartest way.

  16. Meereen
    King’s Landing
    Riverrun
    Brotherhood without Banners
    Braavos

    Five confirmed locations only for a 58 minutes episode. Holy shit.

    Can we expect to see

    Shae this week? She’s been spotted on set no?
  17. I’m afraid Varys is going to die in this episode. He and Tyrion seem to be at the location where Sons of the Harpy butcher people in the trailer. I hope I’m wrong…

  18. Meereen
    King’s Landing
    Riverrun
    Brotherhood without Banners
    Braavos

    Five confirmed locations only for a 58 minutes episode. Holy shit.

    Can we expect to see

    Shae this week? She’s been spotted on set no?
  19. I’m gonna predict a King’s Landing massacre of characters in “No One”:

    Lancel
    Uncle Kevan
    Pycelle

    Plus we might see the end of the Waif, Jaqen, Edmure, Grey Worm, Missandei.

    Add in the Brotherhood Baddies starring Lem Lemoncloak might swallow the axe.

    Get a Gravedigger ready.

  20. I can’t wait for this episode.
    Hope we get lots of Kings Landing.

    This is where it gets good. Cersei is loosing it.

  21. Megan,

    Can someone seek redemption without actual remorse? Theon feels remorse, Jamie doesn’t. And I don’t mean killing Aerys, I mean pushing an 8 year old to his intended death and willing to kill an 11 year old just because your sister-mistress is asking.

  22. I seriously doubt the battle for Winterfell is going to take up the whole episode. I feel like you can’t compare this battle to the one in 409 because that battle had giants, mammoths, Thenns, a big ass ice wall and special effects galore. This upcoming battle is just man vs man (+1 giant) and I don’t see how they could use 50+ minutes plus make it entertaining all the way through like they did with 409. Unless there is still a significant amount of build up right before the battle.. idk. What do you think?

  23. Mustangride,

    OR…

    Dany is so infuriated that Tyrion made a deal that she has him imprisoned in the dragon pit and that is the fade to black for this episode.

    Then… Tyrion comes out riding a dragon.

    Dany becomes the villain. Tyrion flees back to Westeros and decides to head to Westeros. Bran has a vision of the Mad King raping Joanna Lannister and realizing what happened.

    The Song of Ice and Fire is really just a Targaryen Family Feud!

  24. So no Jon/Sansa/Bran?

    Disappointing.

    Anyway, looking forward to Mamma Brienne.

  25. Maggie,

    Ugh
    I don’t want the blackfish to die – I rather Jamie dies.

    I thought that they would help the North fight… but I guess not. We have LF for that. lol

  26. worfwworfington:
    You all realize that the very fact that Cersei has been bragging about the Mountain means he will somehow get neutralized by the High Sparrow, right?

    Some guesses:
    1) Cersei unleashes him in the scenes where the Faith Militant come to talk to her and the Sparrow then urges Tommen to refuse to allow the Mountain to be used

    2) The Sparrow simply says, “We do not recognize Trial by Combat now.”

    3) The Sparrow submits himself as the Faith’s champion and Tommen/the people refuse to allow the combat to take place

    I don’t see how Sandor gets back in time, and Brother Ray’s faith won’t match up with the High Sparrow’s anyway. Forget Cleganebowl.

    doesn’t matter because cersei is sure to have a fiery backup plan

  27. KaKa,

    But that means Margaery dies and that can’t happen because she is supposed to marry me next!

  28. worfwworfington,

    If the HS was aware of what was coming, yes, he could neutralize the Mountain. Enough men swarming him all at once, sooner or later even the undead in armor could be chopped into pieces. But will the HS be aware? If not, the Mountain could wreak a lot of havoc and kiill a lot of people and killing sparrows coming at him one at a time would just belike swatting flies to him.

  29. Nice images

    A bit OT, but why haven’t they made a bigger deal on Jon getting resurrected. Sansa, Brienne, etc are like “oh you died and now you’re back? great!”

  30. It doesn’t look like Cleganebowl will happen. The Hounds arc almost has to go through Brienne and/or Arya…IMO

    Sadly Jamie will never get Cersei out of his system…I think he would slit his own throat is she were to be taken out…poor bastard

  31. antre,

    I remember that sighting of Shae on set, and we assumed it was a hallucination or dream of some kind, but what if “Shae” is a Faceless Man sent to kill Dany (or Tyrion)?

  32. Darkrobin,

    Yes, but only an idiot would not realize Cersei’s plan. The Mountain has killed at least one peasant just for bragging about Cersei’s walk of shame. And she walks around with him most places, so everyone knows about him.

    Plus, the Sparrow now has Tommen in his grasp and probably other spies. I mean, it doesn’t take a genius to realize Cersei plans on using him in a Trial by Combat.

    I still think he short-circuits it somehow, maybe by coercing/convincing/inspiring Tommen to stand in front of the Mountain and say, “Your king commands you to stop” and then Cersei has to pull him back.

  33. tfish_66,

    This bothers me too. The resurrection is being treated with about the same amount of gravitas as what to have for dinner. I suppose the best explanation is that after Hardhome, resurrections don’t really phase these people. That wouldn’t really apply to Brienne and Sansa, but they didn’t see it with their own eyes, so I guess it wouldn’t have the same impact when you just ‘hear about it’. But I agree, they moved on from such a seismic event too quickly, with no apparent repercussions or significance, as if it was just a random thing which is already forgotten. Even Melisandre has gone back to being just as depressed as she was before – what’s that all about? Surely raising a guy from the dead would reinvigorate her faith in her God and her powers/mission?

  34. As a one time Jaime/Brienne ‘maybe’ shipper, I’m looking forward to their meeting. They need to resolve things one way or another. If Jaime is going to continue to profess his undying love for his sister and fight against the Tully’s, then it’s best Brienne see it and just be done with him. She should hurry back North and find her ginger Wildling who looks at her with heart-eyes.

    See ya, Lancel.

  35. WorfWWorfington,

    i don’t believe that cersei’s waiting game has been a trial by combat with the mountain. i think its been something else entirely….something more fiery.

    as to why cersei brings the mountain and starts wrecking shit, the high sparrow might be trying to punish her in some other way. either way she has very little to lose at this point

  36. Bob Warren,

    Brienne and Sansa didn’t actually see Jon die or see his body. Brienne actually never met the guy before anyway. It’s hard for them to come to grips with the “He was dead and came back” routine when they didn’t really see him dead.

    I mean, let’s say Blackfish shows up. He’s going to want to dismiss Jon out of hand out of respect for Catelyn. It’s not like, “He was dead and came back!” is going to sway him.

  37. Maggie,

    I think Blackfish will abandon the castle to go help Sansa. In the trailer, we see a shot of what looks like Brienne sneaking away on a boat during the night. Maybe Blackfish and Brienne sneak off?

  38. WorfWWorfington,

    I would agree wholeheartedly except perhaps the HS’s hubris and complacency might make him blind to it, or at least the timing of it. He’s won every battle he’s fought. Maybe a little overconfident? As you suggest, he might think (incorrectly) Tommen is a good shield against Cersei. And that may lead to the HS and Tommen’s demise. Or maybe Margaery gets killed and Tommen cannot live with the grief. Don’t know. But if I were betting, I would bet Tommen does not survive this season (and possibly episode 8).

  39. KaKa,

    I think that could end up being her fallback plan, but Cersei really isn’t very good at this. I think she just assumes the rules are the same and she can just trot the Mountain out again, since it worked with Oberyn and Tyrion.

    And aren’t we still expecting a scene with the Little Birds going stabby-stab on someone? Is that Pycelle/Kevan. Mace? Or, gulp… Oleanna?

  40. Bob Warren:
    Maggie,

    I think Blackfish will abandon the castle to go help Sansa. In the trailer, we see a shot of what looks like Brienne sneaking away on a boat during the night. Maybe Blackfish and Brienne sneak off?

    My personal opinion, Brienne will leave just with Pod.
    Blackfish is so obsessed with his castle. He is ok with Edmure being treated like shit in front of his own eyes, he will not do anything for Sansa.

    Also spoilers don’t include Blackfish in battle of Bastards
  41. Bob Warren,

    My thought – too many characters in too few episodes. Although certainly the last episode could have had an additional scene (or two) given that it was only 50 minutes. And how does the conversation go? “I was stabbed to death but the red woman raised me from the dead. ” “Well, that’s nice. I was raped and cut …” “I guess we’ve both had bad years.”?

  42. Does anyone else think that Arya faked her death? Everyone I’ve talked to so far thinks this is a stupid and implausible theory, but I keep rewatching that scene and it makes the most sense to me. It would be a perfect way of trying to throw the FM off her trail, and would explain why she’s drawing attention to herself. She’s wearing strange clothes, doesn’t have her sword, it just doesn’t make sense unless there’s a twist of some kind. I’ve heard the other theories, e.g. it’s not really Arya, Arya and the Waif are the same person, it’s a dream etc., but those seem even more far-fetched to me than the idea that Arya used a theatrical prop to fake her death. From the trailer, we see her leaping from a building in the next episode, and in the absence of magic there is just no way she recovers so quickly from such a deep wound, no way; no amount of bad writing would allow for that. Is there anyone in Braavos with magic healing powers? I can’t think of anyone, so I keep coming back to looking for the plot twist….what does everyone think? Fake death, dream, Arya=Waif, Jaqu’en=Arya, magical healing, bad writing, something else….?

  43. worfwworfington,

    i think cersei’s been expecting a trial by combat but hasn’t been genuinely truthful about it. i could see the high sparrow not letting her having a trial by combat and cersei just not caring at all because she plans to torch them all anyways

  44. Maggie,

    That’s true, but isn’t the same also true for Brienne? It takes a long time to get from Riverrun to Winterfell.

  45. Jay Targ,

    I knew there was some leak that indicated a Meereen scene in 6×09
    The episode is 60 minutes long, which already is confirmation enough it won’t only be the battle.
    My guess is the battle will be 45-50 minutes of the entire episode. Especially if we don’t get the north in 6×08.
  46. Bob Warren,

    There are plenty of possibilities:
    1) Jaqen, pissed at the Waif and still with a soft spot for Arya, heals her. There are probably healing potions there

    2) Always remember that Bravos is one big Mission Impossible movie. There are masks upon masks upon masks. No one is totally for sure who is who

    3) Lady Crane heals her. She gets better.

  47. Bob Warren:
    Maggie,

    That’s true, but isn’t the same also true for Brienne? It takes a long time to get from Riverrun to Winterfell.

    We don’t know if Brienne is actually going to Winterfell or stops in the road for reasons. 🙂

  48. HelloThere,

    Yes that’s what I’m thinking as well except I expect the battle to be 40-45 min but that’s minor. I do however wonder what will be going on in Meereen in that episode; I’m guessing it’s Dany arriving (based on some filming spoilers) but I’m not sure
  49. I don’t understand how people see the incredibly mundane photos and description and assume the North isn’t in the episode.

  50. We will get North, but maybe not Jon and Sansa.
    Davos has to find that Mel burned Shireen. Everything for the battle is settled there is no reason to have a Jon or Sansa scene.

    What i wait for, is to see the fandom’s reaction to LittleFinger. Brienne got from zero to hero in one episode, the same with Tormund…because they help Starks.
    If i see people being fans of LittleFinger next year…it would be amazing!!

  51. The Mereenese folk look peaceful – wasn’t there leaks about

    famine and war in Meereen? War can still happen.

    I’m happy to see Cersei looking smug. What have this show done to me?

  52. RJ,

    season 2 episode 9 took up the entire episode in one location and that had only man vs man (Stannis vs Tyrion). I think it will all be in one location and there will just be lots of scenes with ramsey.

  53. Jaime dressed as Tywin. I may eventually speculate as the significance of that. In the meantime I will just anticipate how hot Jaime will look in it. Tywin was a seriously sexy older gentleman in those leathers and younger, handsome NCW will look positively gorgeous. And after hearing about Jaime’s undying love for his sister, Brienne should definitely look up Tormund, who looked quiet nice in episode 7.

    On a more serious note, I wonder if the Blackfish will lose or surrender the castle. The trailers showed the Freys celebrating with Lannister soldiers. Maybe he will surrender it after receiving Sansa’s letter and decide to join her under condition that, if Sansa prevails, she would eventually have to help him regain RR.

    Eagerly anticipating violence in KL. I was kind of disappointed it did not happen in episode 6.

  54. Maggie,

    No amount of “help” from Littlefinger will absolve him of years of scheming and executing the Stark downfall. He’s not Jaime. Or Melisandre. Good deeds and bad deeds need to be treated separately like Stannis says, so those two get forgiven (of sorts), but LF is creating problems then flying in to save the victims and steal the glory.

    The Starks would not have lost the North if Ned did not leave to KL, Ned would not have left if Jon Arryn wasn’t killed, and Littlefinger caused Jon Arryn’s death. That is just one example of LF’s evil schemes.

  55. WorfWWorfington:
    Darkrobin,

    Yes, but only an idiot would not realize Cersei’s plan. The Mountain has killed at least one peasant just for bragging about Cersei’s walk of shame. And she walks around with him most places, so everyone knows about him.

    Plus, the Sparrow now has Tommen in his grasp and probably other spies. I mean, it doesn’t take a genius to realize Cersei plans on using him in a Trial by Combat.

    WorfWWorfington:
    Darkrobin,

    I still think he short-circuits it somehow, maybe by coercing/convincing/inspiring Tommen to stand in front of the Mountain and say, “Your king commands you to stop” and then Cersei has to pull him back.

    Or he does something so amazingly stupid…and she doesn’t stop the Mountain in time…thus she is responsible for his death.

  56. Bob Warren,

    Based on:
    1) Maisie walks into the dockside area using the stereotypical Westorosi highborn walk. We’ve never seen Arya walk like that.
    2) Maisie does not have Needle with her even though we say Arya retrieve Needle in previous episode.
    3) Maisie does have bags of money that we never saw Arya obtain.
    4) Maisie speaks in a very haughty tone and demands a cabin. We’ve rarely if ever seen Arya speak that way before or show any concern for her personal comfort.
    5) Maisie tosses the bags of coin out and retrieves them with her right hand. Arya is left-handed.
    I’m 100% convinced that Maisie is not playing Arya in that scene and that the audience was intended to realize that. At least I can’t think of anything else the show makers could have done to tell us that that was not Arya.

    As to who it actually was and why he/she was behaving in this odd way, I think speculation is wide open.

    My personal belief is that it was Jaqen H’gar. But that belief rest heavily on the belief that “face changing” is just the name for magical methods of disguise employed by the Faceless Men and that those methods, at least in the hands of their greatest masters, do encompass the ability to significantly alter someone’s height, weight, and build. Many people believe that face changing is more of a literal descriptor, in which case Jaqen is clearly not a candidate.

  57. Jay Targ,

    I thought there were rumors from filming

    that there will be a battle for Slavers Bay this season, but it might only involve limited time, something more along the lines of Stannis’s battle for WF. In other words we’d have a battle of ice and one of fire both this season
  58. aabe:
    Maggie,

    No amount of “help” from Littlefinger will absolve him of years of scheming and executing the Stark downfall. He’s not Jaime.

    I agree but i think the majority of people forget the past seasons and redemption is connected only with Starks. For example Theon is redempted because he helped Sansa this season, Jaime isn’t despite giving the sword to Brienne to find Sansa or saving her life in previous seasons because he didn’t do anything to help Starks this season. (He didn’t do anything bad as well…still)
    It’s not like the books, the biggest part of fandom and press judge based on the last episode. Don’t be surprized if people start to love LittleFinger

  59. ATrueFool,

    This makes sense. In the books

    when Jaquen turns into the Alchemist and then from the Alchemist to Pate, there is no indication of how much his body changed. But I’m thinking there was magic other than putting on a face like they did with Arya. I cannot recall the actual language, but he would have had to been of a same size and everything with the old Pate in order to pass himself off. Oh,

    and YES I should have known from when Arya originally came to the House of Black and White and the original door person turned into Jacquen. There was more to that than just putting a face on the same person. The whole body type changed. They were different actors of course they changed. I missed that. That has to be it.

  60. Bob Warren,

    I think Arya is faking her injuries with tricks from Lady Crane. She is leaving a trail of blood for the Waif to follow. The trail will lead to Arya’s hideout where she left Needle. And that will be the end of the Waif! (please?!) Jaqen won’t care because the Waif failed the test. Her face will be the new face on the wall.

  61. HBO strangely promoting Arya this season. They included what appears to be her in the preview, which was an odd choice given the cliffhanger this week, yet there are no pictures from Braavos here. I hope the late updates this week shed more light.

  62. Darkrobin,

    I’m not sure

    I’m hoping we get a Battle of Fire that lasts like 10-12 minutes so we can finally conclude the Meereenese arc.
  63. Holy SHIT the pic of Brienne has my HYPE off the charts. YOU TELL JAIME – YOU FING TELL HIM WHAT RIGHT, AND JUST, AND HONORABLE LOOKS LIKE YES YES YES

    UNG

  64. ATrueFool,

    The more and more I think about, the more obvious it WASNT Arya.

    I am just curious how the real Arya plays in to the next phase of this story (and how her exit will occur)?? And how does the possibility of Arya from episode 7 not being the actual Arya tie in to Arya (Maisie Williams) faces a new test.

  65. Roberta Baratheon,

    OH MAN! THIS JUST OCCURED TO ME!

    What if Arya and Lady Crane worked together to drug or incapacitate the actress who hired the Faceless Men to begin with and put Arya’s face on her?

    Lady Crane throws her out of the troupe and gives her a bag of gold, telling her to get out of town, but the girl doesn’t think she’s in any danger otherwise, leading her to that relatively nonchalant attitude. She’s haughty enough, has money and would stop to admire the Titan of Braavos. She’d even smile at an older lady, thinking it was a fan who recognized her.

    It’s not like there are a million mirrors around the place, so it’s possible she doesn’t know she’s got another face. The whole “get over the bridge and swim away” is just pure survival instinct, not ninja training.

    This means Arya is safely with the troupe. The Bourne-jump we see in the trailer is after the Waif realizes what happened.

  66. Austen,

    I don’t like that.

    It would diminish the entire relationship between Tywin and Tyrion that was brilliantly written / acted

  67. Mustangride,

    I would fistpump for that.

    (Meanwhile 30% of book readers would say BOO HISS MAD QUEEN HOW COME SHE GETS COOL MOMENTS BOO HISS)

  68. ATrueFool:
    Bob Warren,

    My personal belief is that it was Jaqen H’gar. But that belief rest heavily on the belief that “face changing” is just the name for magical methods of disguise employed by the Faceless Men and that those methods, at least in the hands of their greatest masters, do encompass the ability to significantly alter someone’s height, weight, and build.Many people believe that face changing is more of a literal descriptor, in which case Jaqen is clearly not a candidate.

    I suspect that might be the reason why so much time was spent on this storyline. There must be something Arya, beyond collecting some dead faces and losing identity, takes away from this experience that would significantly factor into the other storylines. All these abilities allow Arya to absorb and stand in for some other stuff that did not make it from the book but maybe integral to the outcome.

  69. Maggie,

    Theon is redeemed as he has genuinely changed. As he said justice would be him burning at the gates of Winterfell. Part of that redemption was helping Sansa.

    But the old Theon has died. As did the old Jon. And the old Dany. And the old Arya. And the old Sansa (well mostly). And the old Bran. The old LF hasn’t died. Maybe there is remorse. The actor said so. Could he redeem himself for all of his actions? Perhaps in death. But I don’t see that in him. The old Jamie has not died either (on the show).

  70. There is still a scene with Little Finger meeting someone outside in the snow. Maybe we will get that this week. A meeting between captains of sort

  71. Dragon Tender,

    The Lannisters!
    Steve Harvey: Tywin, who is here?
    Tywin: Well, this is my son Jaime, and my daughter Cersei, and their son Joffrey and their daughter Myrcella. Their other son, Tommen, is in the audience with my other son’s lover, Shae, who is now my lover!
    Steve Harvey: Uh. yeah. White people.

  72. Dee,

    Well, could “a new test” be an audition? Could the theater troupe be heading to Westeros? A bit corny, I know. Best I can think of at the moment.

    Also *possible* that Waif catches on at some point and gets back on Arya’s trail leading to the fight that everyone has been anticipating all along. Unlikely, because that would seem to make all the stuff we just saw into a pointless detour, but possible.

  73. Jay Targ,

    You and me both. It’s time for Dany, Tyrion (and likely Yara and Theon) to blow that popsicle stand. Leave Greyworm and Missendrei there and start the voyage home. I do wonder if Euron might interrupt the voyage though. And on a different thought … wonder if Yara would be attracted to the Dragon Queen 😉

  74. Did some of you not see the preview and see Tyrion looking up at the ceiling after it thuds (28 seconds in)? That’s gotta be Dany landing with her dragon.

  75. I want Lancel and a handful of sparrows to be obliterated by the Mountain this episode. But I don’t think he will get to kill the HS, as much as I would love that.

    Also, I don’t have much hope for a Cleganebowl. At least not the way many of us expected initially (including me), at Cersei’s trial by combat.

    Sandor will never be chosen as the Faith Champion, because he doesn’t give a shit about the Faith. He will kill a lot of BwB members though, which is fine with me.

  76. Wow! Tyrion looking very much the Lord! Calm before the storm. I am sure this picture is seconds away from a Harpy uprising that will have Tyrion scurrying to take cover in his pyramid. When all seem to be lost, there will be a huge ruckus and Drogon will arrive with his Mom. At least I hope so! Time for Tyrion and Daenerys’ story to reconverge in this episode.
    Brienne looks magnificent. She better survive this season…….. I don’t care who else dies in the Riverlands and the Vale, but Brienne and Pod better not be included.

    gamecreator,
    yes, that’s what I think too!

  77. tfish_66:
    Nice images

    A bit OT, but why haven’t they made a bigger deal on Jon getting resurrected.Sansa, Brienne, etc are like “oh you died and now you’re back? great!”

    yes, its kind of ridicolous, was hoping the whole time that Melisandre would have at least some discussion with jon about the lord of light, but it doesnt look like it will happen now. they treated this whole issue like its just a casual thing.

  78. Gd75,

    I’m thinking we get some sort of Harpy chaos followed by Dany landing with Drogon and her army arriving.

  79. ATrueFool,

    I could see the troupe going to Westeros and performing at a Frey celebration. Not sure it will happen but one can hope. What’s better than a little mirth after retaking a castle?

  80. Kay,

    When all seem to be lost, there will be a huge ruckus and Drogon will arrive with his Mom

    Or Rhaegal and Viserion could save the day, so Tyrion’s plan to free them would pay off.

  81. Maggie,

    My personal opinion, Brienne will leave just with Pod.
    Blackfish is so obsessed with his castle. He is ok with Edmure being treated like shit in front of his own eyes, he will not do anything for Sansa.

    Totally agree. What Blackfish wants to do is going to be totally counter to what Brienne (and Sansa) want him to do. Brienne doesn’t look particularly enamored with him in that short preview clip, nor does she look especially happy to be inside RR in that clip from the 2nd trailer. This guy is going to disappoint her massively.

    Blackfish is a totally minor character. He’s probably going to die, or he’s going to go missing again until they need to resurface him sometime next season or during Season 8. My money is on dying though.

  82. “What’s better than a little mirth after retaking a castle?”

    Mirth and blood. Or music and blood. Or all three, concurrent or consecutive. But we can’t do mirth and music without the blood. Blood is compulsory.

  83. kit_hepburn,

    Or it being unclear what happened. As you said, unless there is a reason for him to reappear, he may disappear again

    as for that matter he did in the books after the siege
  84. In the promos for season 6 I think I heard or read somewhere that there is going to be

    two large battles in season 6, one is the starks against the boltons and the other has to be the kingslayer vs Blackfish

    Get ready for full throttle action.3…2…TWOW

  85. Dolorous (N)Edd:

    Also, I don’t have much hope for a Cleganebowl. At least not the way many of us expected initially (including me), at Cersei’s trial by combat.

    Sandor will never be chosen as the Faith Champion, because he doesn’t give a shit about the Faith. He will kill a lot of BwB members though, which is fine with me.

    Agree 100%!
    Cleganebowl will happen, it just won’t have anything to do with Cersei. Well, it will because I think when the dust settles, if the Starks are back to ruling the north in season 7, she will send him north for Sansa Stark.
    In my perfect scenario, Sandor meets up with Arya and heads north to WF. I want another road trip! It’s there that the brothers meet again.

    Of course, since it is what I want, it won’t happen. But damn if I wouldn’t love seeing Arya and Sandor riding up to the gates of Winterfell together sometime in season 7.

    Danny:
    Megan,

    Can someone seek redemption without actual remorse?Theon feels remorse, Jamie doesn’t.And I don’t mean killing Aerys, I mean pushing an 8 year old to his intended death and willing to kill an 11 year old just because your sister-mistress is asking.

    Everything Jaime has done has been worth it to him because it was for Cersei. I don’t think he ever gave a damn about honoring his oath or promise to Catelyn but knew that it mattered to Brienne, so he sent her to find her. If he really cared about making good on his promise, he wouldn’t have waited until after the purple wedding, when Sansa is long gone, to give Brienne the “thumbs up” to rescue her. Plus, I think he knew he had to get Brienne out of Kings Landing. Jaime isn’t without his merits but in the end, and after two seasons of playing puppy to Cersei’s every whim, he does things with one goal in mind – Cersei. He may not know the depths of her deeds but he knows enough, and has participated in enough, to be so far past redemption for me. I just don’t think he cares about anything other than his twin. Admires, respects and aspires to be more like Brienne but he can’t shake Cersei’s hold.

    About the Blackfish, I don’t think he will abandon his castle unless defeated. Not that he doesn’t care about the Starks in Winterfell but this is his home. He will protect it at all costs.

  86. kells,

    Have you read the books? I’m assuming not, so you can ignore this if you’d like!

    Blackfish escapes the siege in the books. Wondering what the show intends for him.
  87. kells,

    The major change the show made and not the books was with Myrcella. Book Jaime never showed much interest in fatherhood and certainly never had a kid die in his arms. There could still be a Cersei-Jaime schism, but it will have to be over something pretty big and not just the fact that she boinked Lancel while he was gone.

  88. kit_hepburn,

    1. In the preview, why would Blackfish take Brienne deep into the castle just to reject her? Doesn’t make sense.
    2. Also, he’s drawing his sword. Not in anger or action. Looks more like a pledge to me. Likely another keep of the faith with the Starks.
    3. Note that Brienne is leaving on a boat while she arrived on a horse. There’s more here than something as simple as her being rejected.

  89. There were rumours, that crew called the battle of bastards battle of six armies. We have wildlings, stark loayalists, boltons and vale army. What about the other two? Any ideas?

  90. I would be seriously upset if Cersei loses(or worse , dies – which would be too soon and worst decision regarding such a vital character since the start.) without getting any real revenge. I think even her haters are secretly rooting for her to punish those who have abused her.
    I hope what she does in the “I choose violence” scene is just the starting and the tip of the ice berg. I can’t wait to see what the request is but I am assuming it would be something unreasonable aimed to humiliate her further in regards to her trial. She realizes that its do or die and snaps finally after being cool as a cucumber the entire season.! Let Cersei win again like in season 1! And have they used two different wigs for her? This one looks way better, even though her hair hasn’t grown at all)

  91. Motherofmadness,

    Hmm, I may be in the minority, but I don’t REALLY feel the need to watch Cersei win.

    The HS and the Sparrows are evil religious zealots, but one side doesn’t have to be good and one side bad. Remember the things they are still gunning for her over, the things they haven’t forgiven – that she committed incest and put her Lannister children, born of incest, on the throne, resulting in the death and suffering of millions. Remember, Cersei and the Lannisters are still responsible for so much of what has happened on this show.

    That you can forget that is a testament to Lena, but I for one can’t wait to see Cersei lose everything and FEEL that she has lost, for all the horrible things she’s done that have accumulated since the first episode of the series (let alone the book)

    After all, everything bad that has happened to her, she’s earned.
    – Joffrey’s death: a vicious horrible child who wasn’t really a legitimate king, whose impulses she never reigned in
    – Myrcella’s death: a sweet girl, but she died because the Lannisters let the Mountain rape Elia Martell and brutalize her children
    – Tommen: if he dies, it will be for a chain of events that started because she encouraged the Faith Militant! She used them to attack the Tyrells! The rats you breed turn on you.

    Don’t forget that Cersei pushed and supported the Faith Militant. Like Littlefinger warned her, these things, they turn on you.

  92. Nadia:
    kells,

    Have you read the books? I’m assuming not, so you can ignore this if you’d like!

    I don’t think the show is following the same pattern though. Brienne is going to ask him to go north with his army, while the castle is under siege. Unless this is the shortest siege in GoT history, I can’t see him saying “Okay, let them have it” and running away north with his entire crew while the Lannisters/Freys are on his doorstep.

    WorfWWorfington:
    kells,

    The major change the show made and not the books was with Myrcella. Book Jaime never showed much interest in fatherhood and certainly never had a kid die in his arms. There could still be a Cersei-Jaime schism, but it will have to be over something pretty big and not just the fact that she boinked Lancel while he was gone.

    I don’t think Lancel will be alive long enough for Jaime to find out. Not saying that Jaime wasn’t torn-up about Myrcella dying, especially the way she did, but I still didn’t see much interest in Fatherhood from him. Saddened by Myrcella of course, but his interactions with his children was so sparse, I didn’t really feel that he was a doting Dad or even playing a Father-like role.

  93. I think this is what we gonna have.

    Meeren – 9 minutes
    Kings landing – 10 minutes
    Bravoos – 7 minutes
    Riverrun – 13 minutes
    The hound/bwb – 7 minutes
    North – 9 minutes

    5 plots confirmed. For a 59 minutes episode we for sure will have more plots. Hope the north.

  94. Motherofmadness,

    Her hair hasn’t grown at all because she has an appointment every 6 weeks for a trim. The worst is trying to grow out your hair from short to long. There is always that awkward phase in between and she probably avoiding it.

    She will kill her enemies. Once she does, it’s time for her to die.

  95. Motherofmadness,

    To be honest I don’t feel sorry for Cersei. She facilitated the death of her children and whatever abuse she took from the Sparrow. She would have been gloating if that abuse would have fallen upon Margaery. She never felt an ounce of pity for Sansa who was an innocent. The Sparrow is a monster of her own doing, too bad the consequences of her actions will undoubtedly affect others. Too bad for Myrcella and too bad for Tommen but Cersei doesn’t deserve a good ending. I’m fine with the Sparrow and Cersei killing each other, that is if I can’t have Jamie doing the deed himself.

  96. kells,

    I actually prefer the change of him remaining loyal and in love with Cersei instead of the book dynamic of him starting to lose interest majorly due to his jealousy. Seriously, she’s slept with just one other guy Lancel and he can understand why, so it wouldn’t make sense if they went down the Jaime feeling betrayed theme. Other than that it gives game of thrones a very unique theme that the most important love story between two characters are the twin siblings who shaped the course of the entire series from the end of the pilot episode. Jaime’ is unlike any other man in Westeros, he has his distinct code and doesn’t care about small minds and unimportant people’s opinions about him. Also he has been faithful to only one woman which he is very proud about. So even if they need to create a tragic ending between them I would like if its something more than just him realizing his sister is an evil bitch – remember he knows Cersei better than anyone else since forever and he still chose her and loves her so how can it make sense that he suddenly falls out of love with her on the show? if its going to be a tragic end then it has to involve something more like him having to choose between her and Tyrion or if she is trying to unfairly and brutally kill Tyrion or sth and he has to stop her.. or a less original idea … her burning KL…. I don’t want the show to be hundred percent accurate on fan predictions

  97. I am fairly certain during his time off screen, Bastard of Bolton is sacking Castle Black and flaying Edd, he’s my bet for being a burning man on a cross unfortunately.

  98. ATrueFool: But that belief rest heavily on the belief that “face changing” is just the name for magical methods of disguise employed by the Faceless Men and that those methods, at least in the hands of their greatest masters, do encompass the ability to significantly alter someone’s height, weight, and build

    I believe you are talking about glamouring

  99. Aguero,

    North might not be in this episode but Sophie talked about Sansa and wart srategy. They’ll get a large piece of episode 9.

  100. kells: Agree 100%!

    Everything Jaime has done has been worth it to him because it was for Cersei. I don’t think he ever gave a damn about honoring his oath or promise to Catelyn but knew that it mattered to Brienne, so he sent her to find her. If he really cared about making good on his promise, he wouldn’t have waited until after the purple wedding, when Sansa is long gone, to give Brienne the “thumbs up” to rescue her. Plus, I think he knew he had to get Brienne out of Kings Landing. Jaime isn’t without his merits but in the end, and after two seasons of playing puppy to Cersei’s every whim, he does things with one goal in mind – Cersei. He may not know the depths of her deeds but he knows enough, and has participated in enough, to be so far past redemption for me. I just don’t think he cares about anything other than his twin. Admires, respects and aspires to be more like Brienne but he can’t shake Cersei’s hold.

    About the Blackfish, I don’t think he will abandon his castle unless defeated. Not that he doesn’t care about the Starks in Winterfell but this is his home. He will protect it at all costs.

    Of course Jaime wanted to honour his oath, he just didn’t know what to do when he found Sansa be Lady Lannister and married to his brother. He loved his brother..he couldn’t take his wife.
    Jaime isn’t Cersei’s puppy in the show as well when it comes to good.
    Cersei asked him to kill Tyrion but he saved him.
    Cersei asked him to kill Sansa but he gave his sword to Brienne and send her to save her.
    I think people are unfair to show Jaime, just because he doesn’t hate Cersei yet….. it doesn’t mean he didn’t change. He just had his daughter die in his arms and found his sister/lover humiliated, i don’t know how he could be a better person if he started crying for Lancel and Moonboy when universe is falling apart. He tried to free Marg and Loras.
    He went to Riverrun, demanded to feed and dress Edmure and offered peace to Blackfish…
    From the trailer, he leaves Brienne to enter and give Sansa’s message
    What else can he do?

  101. kells,

    Not necessarily true – you can’t see it because we don’t really know where the Riverlands plot is going. If Blackfish isn’t an important character, yeah he’ll probably stay and die in the siege, although there is then there is ZERO reason to show it. Like, for an average show reader, who the hell cares about this old dude coming back and dying the next episode to save his castle? To me there might be other ways to show Jaime character moments than this elaborate scene where this character is reintroduced and dies.

    But if he IS important, and I don’t know why but I feel he could be if the show brought him back and the books have saved him from the RW and the siege, then he’ll live and escape.

    Obviously I am mostly hoping he lives because Clive Russell looks like a badass MFer.

    That’s the fun of this season I guess – we’re not necessarily finding out what GRRM thinks is important, because I think they’ve eliminated a lot of really important plots, but what D&D think is essential to the story they’re choosing to tell.

  102. Nadia,

    You’re not alone. I’ve never had any sympathy for Cersei, not even during her walk of shame. She has no redeeming qualities and I won’t be sorry if she’s killed off either. That’s not to say I don’t think Lena does a great job. She does, one of the great actresses on the show.

  103. Danny:
    Motherofmadness,

    To be honest I don’t feel sorry for Cersei.She facilitated the death of her children and whatever abuse she took from the Sparrow.She would have been gloating if that abuse would have fallen upon Margaery. She never felt an ounce of pity for Sansa who was an innocent.The Sparrow is a monster of her own doing, too bad the consequences of her actions will undoubtedly affect others.Too bad for Myrcella and too bad for Tommen but Cersei doesn’t deserve a good ending.I’m fine with the Sparrow and Cersei killing each other, that is if I can’t have Jamie doing the deed himself.

    I agree. Cersei never protected Sansa, Margaery or any other woman from getting abused when she had the power… the opposite.
    I can’t feel sorry for her.

  104. If I were Blackfish, I would not surrender Riverrun and bring my army to the North.

    If anything, I’m going to ask my grandniece to help me defend The Castle. Riverrun is currently under my control. Why would I surrender something thats already under my control for something that isnt.

    The only way I would surrender RR is me defeated in the battle. I’ll take whats left of my army and go north

  105. I don’t care whether Cersei deserves sympathy.

    Shes a fabulous and fascinating character to watch on screen, and I enjoy every scene with her… and maybe I get a little perverse pleasure out of seeing her (mindblowingly dumb) evil schemes 🙂

  106. Motherofmadness: Seriously, she’s slept with just one other guy Lancel and he can understand why, so it wouldn’t make sense if they went down the Jaime feeling betrayed theme.

    She slept with fucking Moonboy for all we know!

  107. Maggie,

    I still think that Cersei will lose everyone first and be left alone and isolated. Tommen and Jamie will die before her. She might have a hand in Tommen’s death, accidentally, and Jamie will finally cut ties with her before he is killed and she is completely alone. Worse punishment than death for her.

  108. I am interested the Cersei arc in the next episode. Between the trailers and photos, we’ve seen Cersei in two places

    In the Red Keep, with the mountain and facing off vs Team Lancel. Cersei “chooses violence” and the mountain appears to unleash it.

    At the Sept of Baelor, and what appears to be a trial. Critically, this appears to be after the Red Keep confrontation, as the mountain has a hole in his armor consistent with Lancel’s weapon.

    It seems the logic here is that Team Lancel is sent to bring Cersei alone, but as a show of power, she wipes them out and shows up at the trial with her mountainous security detail. So we clearly aren’t getting a fight between the mountain and the faith’s seven, because he already killed them. That makes it pretty much Loras to champion the faith, or else the faith declares Trial-by-Combat null and void for this particular case. I lean towards the former, because TbC seems very central to the book story here, and Loras showing up as a surprise TbC combatant to foil Cersei’s plans seems a likely occurrence. My guess in this case is that Loras “wins” and inflicts an obviously mortal wound, only to die as the re-animated mountain keeps on going. Cersei then goes mad and the city burns.

  109. Boston Snow,

    I think Tommen’s death will push her over the edge to potentially burn the city,
    and then Jaime ends up killing her, and potentially himself, resulting in a fucked up version of Romeo and Juliet

    Jaime just has to be the valonqar.. and if this is Martin’s end game, I can’t imagine D&D straying from it.
  110. HelloThere,

    Could be. I would be fine with that.

    I think Cersei burning the city is what accidentally kills Tommen. That would be extra brutal for her. In the past it, she was only indirectly responsible for her children dying. This time she could be directly responsible. That would make her extra crazy and it would be something that Jamie could never forgive her for. Then maybe he kills her. But I still think he will die first.

  111. Nadia,

    I can understand how someone could be much more conflicted over show!Cersei than book!Cersei. Also in the books we have access to Cersei’s thoughts. No telling what is going through show!Cersei’s mind in some of those scenes.

    Frankly, based on what’s she’s done so far (provide the impetus for Robert to get himself killed, ignore Joffrey’s abuses, arrange for Ned’s arrest (but not murder), psychologically terroize Sansa, enable Qyburn (who has done nothing close to what his book version does), arrange for the HS and Loras and Margaery, and oh yes Lancel, I can well understand how the punishment might not be regarded as fitting the crime. My guess is that show!Cersei will do things from here on out that might.

  112. Halfman,
    I posted something for you in the episode titles thread about the person in blue in Braavos thinking that was the best place to catch you, but I’ll repeat it here as well…..

    Just rewatched that scene on an HD tv and there is a striking similarity with you know who. Right build/height and hair and although you only see a bit of their face, very similar profile. I thought it was unlikely based on the photos you posted but now I’m thinking it could well be correct. Which probably means there’s no way in hell it is him! 😉 I seem to remember reading that actor was one of the people originally cast for just one scene who impressed the production team so much their role was expanded (Ramsay’s mate Myranda was another). Only *looks at countdown clock* 4 days 4 hours or so to find out 🙂

  113. Maggie,

    Yes, that’s the issue. Show!Cersei has done a lot less to earn show!Jamie’s ire than book!Cersei did. Well up to this point. He’s swept up in her “them against us” mentality.

  114. If my long-held personal theory is ever going to be proven right it will be (or start) in this upcoming episode. I have to say, I’m curious to see if my crackpot theorizing was anywhere even close to the story.

  115. Bob Warren,

    I believed the same thing — and it makes sense that the only way to keep from having the FM hound you the rest of your life is for them to believe they have already killed you. So the very obvious walking around in broad daylight, no disguise, the very showy purchasing of a passage home in the most obvious way possible, the standing on a high, visible bridge, and the staggering along in plain view in front of mulitple witnesses, all seem like pieces of a “fake your own death” formula. The counterevidence is, of course, those stabs wounds. They did not look fake or minor.

    So maybe there is a twist I am not seeing.

  116. Lulus Mum,

    Thank you for replying. Sorry that I missed your earlier reply, there’s so much to read and I’m obviously missing some stuff.

    Now you have me intrigued. He is very similar and maybe it’s not just an extra. It’s the clothing which seems out of place and he actually bumped into her as well while walking in the opposite direction to her, before turning around and following her.

    I’ve no idea why they would be in Braavos trailing Ayra though lol. Maybe it’s something of nothing. We will see, as you say.

  117. Darkrobin,

    Lol yes I think because book Cersei just devolves into complete batshit crazy – and makes the prophecies self-fulfilling – that it becomes a little easier to find her without redeeming qualities. The show is more complex, in part because Lena is phenomenal, but I still don’t totally understand how much sympathy can be garnered for her actions?

  118. Tommen probably won’t survive this episode. I think what Cersei doesn’t realise is what ZombieGregor will do if Cersei’s loved ones become her enemies as well, like Tommen.

    I’m most looking forward to Lena’s acting. She already played a little bit of mad in her dungeon cell if you recall, but what happens when her (Cersei) last child dies by her own doing?

  119. ATrueFool,

    also the facial expression when arya said ‘what do you care?’ or what ever she said when asked how she got so much money. simply not an arya expression. maybe a jaqen the box facial expression. although IMO more reminiscence of a syrio forel expression (as were the style of clothes).
    as far as changing the size and shape of a body as well as a face, remember when arya went blind. the waif suddenly change into jaqen and he was rockin’ the waif’s dress. so i guess that can be done.

  120. TFT: Tommen probably won’t survive this episode.

    I am not clear on the line of succession if Tommen dies. Do you know who would be ruler next? Cersei, Jaime, Margery, or would it be the HS since Tommen just united the crown and the Faith? Thanks

  121. Making the 8,

    Some say Dany (as the Baratheons are related to the Targaryens) or Jamie (as the Baratheons are also apparently related to the Lannisters somewhere way back when).

  122. Darkrobin,

    Thanks, that would save Dany a ton of effort battling for the Iron Throne if she was naturally next in line.

    Jamie would be interesting since he sat on the throne in the flashback we saw.

  123. Babeko,

    He can retake it with the help of thousands of Northerners. He can’t defeat Freys and Lannisters.

  124. The truth is the succession is up for grabs if Tommen goes. They could revert to Targarean rule under Dany or Jon, or I suppose if Tywin really was in line it could be Jaime or Kevan. But I think the rule of law /tradition only goes so far.

  125. I think Blackfish is going to do something with the Vale plot both in the show and in the books. He was set up as a person who lingered in the Vale for many years and earned respect of the local lords. So, I think in the show it may play as follows. will definitely go to Sansa’s aid (also saving Edmure) abably BlaEdmuremanages to get out the best of his men under the cover of the night (he doesn’t trust Kingslayer, so he won’t negotiate for a free exit). Afterwards he may meet with the BwB which was implied to cooperate with him attacking Freys. This way his story might tie up with the one of Sandor who might discover that his community had been attacked not by BwB but by a group pretending to be them (wishful thinking probably but I don’t see BwB spending time on slaying some harmless pacifist when they are busy with the Freys). Together they might plan some big surprice for Freys but Sansa will still be a priority. They will realise that they need more men and Brienne will tell about LF and the army of the Vale. Then Blackfish will go to Royce and/or Robin and take this army under his personal command: he is a legend and close relative of Robin, so that would be natural. Afterwards I don’t know: and Pod may haste to warn and Jon and end up on the crosses after beeing intercepted by Ramsay but there are other alternatives as well: Rickon’s rescue mission, for instance. But the army of the Vale will come it time thanks to Blackfish and that will be a different situation for LF.

  126. Making the 8: TFT

    If the HS lives he may take his place. I don’t know, either way, I’m pretty excited for a new face on the iron throne! 🙂

    If it’s the HS, it gives Cersei a reason to burn KL, as some have theorized.

  127. OK jumping ahead some what – what if the Nights king is actually a targaryn and ultimately he ends up on the iron throne???

  128. Flayed Potatoes:
    Halfman,

    Someone probably helps her with her wounds and gives her some spare clothes.

    Except the filming leaks where the photo came from also have the Waif holding the bloody knife coming down the steps Ayra tumbles down, so how does that work? No time for changing clothes.

    No worries, I’ll just be scratching my head til next episode I think.

  129. Aguero,

    I think the north will have less, more like 5-6 minutes max, since it will have 40-50 minutes in 9th episode. The Hound can get more love, just like Mereen, whilst Riverrun will be 10-12 minutes or so.

  130. Halfman,
    No worries, I only posted the first reply about 5 minutes before the one in this thread 🙂 If that is him it just makes the question of what exactly is going on in that Arya sequence even more mysterious than it already is, because of course with this faceless men and people not necessarily being who we think they are thing, that might be someone who only appears to be you know who. I think I’m just going to wait until Sunday rather than try and figure this one out otherwise my tiny brain might melt with all the potential possibilities ?

    Edit: you’re just above me also saying “no worries”. When I was at junior school (I’m from the UK) you had to say “jinx” if someone said the same thing as you at the same time. So…jinx! 🙂

  131. Inga,

    I would really like if that scenario if that is how it worked out. It makes total sense for the BF to lead the Vale army. Robyn being his nephew and all. BF and LF would be classic. BF ain’t going to stand for that prissy LF running his mouth with all his scheming, but first he has to escape RR

  132. Making the 8:
    Darkrobin,

    Thanks, that would save Dany a ton of effort battling for the Iron Throne if she was naturally next in line.

    Jamie would be interesting since he sat on the throne in the flashback we saw.

    You know what would make for a “bittersweet” ending? If

    the throne was offered to Dany but she already released a horde of Dothraki on Westeros

    That would be an interesting twist, and her new realm would be jeopordized by her own doing.

  133. Gd75,

    There was a clip of Tyrion inside the pyramid(I think), looking up toward it’s ceiling like he heard a noise. The only thing I can think of is that Deny has landed on the roof with Drogon. She did ask Daario how many days ride it was to Mereen right before she went to find Drogon in the mountains. She can make the faster on Drogon, no?

    Can’t wait to see.

  134. Halfman,

    Omg cover your spoilers lol.

    Maybe

    she injures her somewhere else, or someone else dies by accident when the Waif is trying to catch Arya
  135. I’m not sure if this is a spoiler or not…

    In the books (not sure if it was shown on TV) Tyrion is told they found thousands of jars of wildfyre under the Sept.
    Is that Cersei’s ‘fiery end’ to the HS and the FM?

    I have a feeling E10 will be Bran at the Wall facing the NK and the Walkers – fade to black!
    I’m convinced LF is using the TARDIS to get around the Seven Kingdoms. Maybe he was the first Dr Who…
    Hoping he lends the TARDIS to Brienne & Pod to get back to Winterfell for the battle. Brienne needs to cut Ramsay’s bits off and feed them to him with “turnips and pease”.
    I’m already sad that GoT only has two more seasons (and only 13 eps)
    I’ll mourn this show more than I did SoA.

  136. I want to know what happens to result in the Lannister / Frey toast at The Twins that we saw in the trailer …I’m guessing things don’t fare well for The Tullys? Or do they…?

  137. Halfman,

    I’ve given up. Either it was someone else (who has magical powers and just doesn’t put a face from the hall on their own body) or it was Arya and the wound was not as grevous as it appeared.

  138. Xela,

    Here’s my speculation. RR falls. Either by agreement or suprise attack. Freys retake possession. Freys celebrate (hence the trailer). The Freys may arrange for entertainment. The entertainment may include scenes from the history of Westeros. Wader Frey laughs so much he chokes on his laugher (well figuratively he chokes on poison) and maybe RW II happens (without the wedding). My guess is that Jamie is not present either he’s headed back to Cersei or something else. That’s my hope.

  139. Moka,

    Or Varys leaves Mereen and inmediately trouble starts. He might be behind the Sons of the Harpy. He and Iliryo Mopantis being friends/in cahoots.

  140. WorfWWorfington,

    I had thought of other ways that Lady Crane would help her, but not think about helping the sansa actor stand in for her in quite that manner. Very very good..I like it!

    Actually there have been so many possible resolutions to this, I’d love to see them all filmed and shown, just for fun. We are a creative bunch here in the fan web.

  141. ATrueFool,

    I think the “Arya” we saw was another waif who volunteered for the job in exchange of something, people go to die to the House of Black and White, right? Jaqen, then and acordding to the description that says “Arya gets a new mission”, is forgiven if she adds the WAIF’s face to the hall.

  142. Maggie: My personal opinion, Brienne will leave just with Pod.
    Blackfish is so obsessed with his castle. He is ok with Edmure being treated like shit in front of his own eyes, he will not do anything for Sansa.

    Agreed. I’m thinking Jamie releases Edmure under condition of him surrendering the castle to spare his men – what the Blackfish wouldn’t do. He is the Lord is he not? And the preview has Jamie talking to Edmure about slaughtering every Tully to get back to his Sis.

    And just as likely, the backstabbing Freys are going to pull another one and attack the surrendered castle. I don’t see Edmure or Blackfish escaping the treachery.

    And that’s just one more reason for their eventual comeuppance ?

  143. taim,

    yes, its kind of ridicolous, was hoping the whole time that Melisandre would have at least some discussion with jon about the lord of light, but it doesnt look like it will happen now. they treated this whole issue like its just a casual thing.

    It is ridiculous how they just tossed his return under the bus; but actually when he wakes up, she asks him what he saw, and he said ‘nothing, nothing at all’. At face value that could mean there is indeed nothing. It could also mean that he couldn’t see the things he needed toat the time, or he wasn’t allowed to remember what he saw. ….but yeah,I so wish they would have had a few conversations with NW, the Mutineers, others folk about it all. Just not happening I guess

    Tho I do have to say its interesting how many characters are dying in a sense then returning as someone else (someone up post named several). Could be why his isn’t emphasized – all people can change and become someone else, or no one if they choose

  144. ash: It is ridiculous how they just tossed his return under the bus; but actually when he wakes up, she asks him what he saw, and he said ‘nothing, nothing at all’. At face value that could mean there is indeed nothing.

    Not really. If the answer is “nothing,” then there is nothing to discuss. Again, Spock’s lines to McCoy probably are realistic:

    McCoy: C’mon, Spock, it’s me, McCoy. You really have gone where no man’s gone before. Can’t you tell me what it felt like?
    Spock: It would be impossible to discuss the subject without a common frame-of-reference.
    ….
    McCoy: You mean I have to die to discuss your insights on death?

    After all, until you experience “nothing,” then it’s hard to fathom it. It’s literally and figuratively the compliment of infinity.

    ash: Tho I do have to say its interesting how many characters are dying in a sense then returning as someone else (someone up post named several).

    Yes, there is a definite Phoenix motif to this story: all of the main characters are arising from ashes to which they reduced themselves from their actions in the prior story. But that is also setting up their problems with finding new allies: why it needs to be done, what new problems there are, etc.

  145. Maggie: He is ok with Edmure being treated like shit in front of his own eyes, he will not do anything for Sansa.

    I doubt that Blackfish is OK with it. He’s just not going to give them the satisfaction of seeing that he is not.

  146. Maggie,

    I agree, tho the WoS was the one moment that stopped me cold. I was cheering in the book, but seeing Lena (with body double) perform that walk, my heart went out to her, esp as none of the men had to do the same. She would however not minded at all if it happened to Margety

    Otherwise, she brought all this on herself and its so apparent she either doesn’t realize it, or knows but isn’t sorry in the least. I won’t cry if that character dies off.

  147. Nadia,

    Cersei had a bad feeling about Tyrells and before she caused them any real harm, they killed Joffrey and as soon as Tommen married Margaery she started planning to have Cersei go away to Casterly Rock! So I think her instincts were not wrong about them.

    Even though I don’t think Cersei cares much about the poor but apart from using the Faith to bring down the Tyrells maybe arming them at some level made her feel its a Holy Purpose and she’s doing a good thing. Remember how she pondered about the price for her sins and even HS stated that Gods worked through her. The Faith’s stance on equality is plausible but there is hypocricy there as well. And you are probably right, Lena Headey adds so much to the character that I can’t help feeling bad for Cersei and liking her for who she is.

  148. Wimsey,

    fter all, until you experience “nothing,” then it’s hard to fathom it. It’s literally and figuratively the compliment of infinity.

    Hee, true, that. Its fun hearing about people who have near death experiences that you expect someone to say something. But John wasn’t just near death or ‘mostly dead’ He was. Thats a whole different ball of wax. (forgot about that scene, thanks for the reminder. Need to rewatch that movie sometime)

  149. gamecreator:
    kit_hepburn,
    1.In the preview, why would Blackfish take Brienne deep into the castle just to reject her?Doesn’t make sense.
    2.Also, he’s drawing his sword.Not in anger or action.Looks more like a pledge to me.Likely another keep of the faith with the Starks.
    3.Note that Brienne is leaving on a boat while she arrived on a horse.There’s more here than something as simple as her being rejected.

    1. Well, his priorities might lie with the castle itself. He’s probably bound and determine to defend it over his cold, dead body and to hell with everything else. Doesn’t mean he wouldn’t help Pod and Brienne get out safely; it just means he maybe doesn’t feel he’s able to help Sansa at this moment. That would still massively disappoint Brienne.
    2. To be honest with you, I don’t know *what* it looks like. It doesn’t look like a threat, but it doesn’t look like a pledge either. Looks mostly like showing off his really cool sword and that’s about it. But the clip’s too short to know.
    3. See my answer to #1. He can reject her AND send her on her way safely. I didn’t say he’s going to try to murder them; I just said that Brienne isn’t going to be pleased with him either.

  150. Motherofmadness,

    I love Cersei too, thanks to Lena Headey. Even if she goes mad and kill everyone, I’ll probably still love her. LOL. I can’t help but find her tragic and she’s a great character. They haven’t given Lena enough scenes this year, so hopefully they will come.

  151. So the only scenes left from the trailer that we haven’t seen are “I choose violence” and Arya jumping off the roof, which are both in the next episode.

    Then clips from Battle of the Bastards.

    And the little birds attacking someone and the Harpies attacking, which are both probably from the finale.

  152. WorfWWorfington:
    Roberta Baratheon,

    OH MAN! THIS JUST OCCURED TO ME!

    What if Arya and Lady Crane worked together to drug or incapacitate the actress who hired the Faceless Men to begin with and put Arya’s face on her?

    Lady Crane throws her out of the troupe and gives her a bag of gold, telling her to get out of town, but the girl doesn’t think she’s in any danger otherwise, leading her to that relatively nonchalant attitude. She’s haughty enough, has money and would stop to admire the Titan of Braavos. She’d even smile at an older lady, thinking it was a fan who recognized her.

    It’s not like there are a million mirrors around the place, so it’s possible she doesn’t know she’s got another face. The whole “get over the bridge and swim away” is just pure survival instinct, not ninja training.

    This means Arya is safely with the troupe. The Bourne-jump we see in the trailer is after the Waif realizes what happened.

    And how would they get Arya’s face on her? Lady Crane is going to cut her face off? I don’t think it works like that. Arya’s face would have to be added to the Hall first.

  153. I must admit, I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed by the sheer volume of what will/needs to happen in 3 episodes remaining. ?

  154. Lady Daisy,

    As an aside, IMO SoA jumped the shark with the whole fake pregnancy/miscarriage in Season 6 like The Wire did with the fake mass murderer plot in Season 5.

  155. Wimsey,

    Exactly that. I agree.

    Rhetorical question to those who think the BF should have done something about Edmure: Would you negotiate with Freys? I think they’ve expressed their views on guest rights and probably all other similar conventions. With the Kingslayer given his and the Lannister (Tywin’s) reputation? Really?

    I believe the whole purpose of the scene (and this was made much more clear in the books) was that the Freys, while great at backstabbing, were awful at normal military operations. In the books, the head Frey general was drunk and with his lady friend all the time. Another was only concerned with getting the castle without any damage to i the only married to Genna Lannister. I can’t remember their names. It was a fiasco. So they threatened to hang Edmure every single day. They trotted him out every day and trotted him back. We were only seeing one day.

    I doubt a song and a trebuchet are involved in the next offer (probably not). It seems that the show may have a different stratagem as Brienne is involved instead of Edmure alone.

  156. Maybe I’m remembering wrong, but did Nicolaj Coster-Waldau make tweet (or something) a while back, basically confirming he survives this season? Something like saying “see you next year” to his fitness trainer or something?

    If anyone can confirm, I’d like to know this.

  157. Flayed Potatoes,

    Maybe some pirate ship -the friend of Davos – or some other ship picked him up and he’s been impressed into the pirate life (or on some other sailing vessel). I wonder if book Edric had a future role to play (as it would appear unlikely Gendry would play his book role given BwB sold him out.

  158. Jack Bauer 24:
    So the only scenes left from the trailer that we haven’t seen are “I choose violence” and Arya jumping off the roof, which are both in the next episode.

    Then clips from Battle of the Bastards.

    And the little birds attacking someone and the Harpies attacking, which are both probably from the finale.

    Littlefinger in the Godswood or wherever. Did we get all of the Sansa explaining what Ramsay did to her? There are lines in some of the trailers that we hear but have not seen delivered. I’m not certain we will. I need to relook to see if that’s all because we sure got a lot more than we thought in the trailers.

  159. Darkrobin,

    Probably not imo. The only way I can see him returning is if it has something to do with forging swords for the war with the WW.

  160. Ginevra,

    Oh! There is literally a ton of stuff from the Battle of the Bastards. Flayed Men, Tormund, captured prisoners, marching, arrowing, piled bodies, ….

  161. Ginevra,

    There’s still that shot of Walder Frey celebrating which we have not seen.

    And these lines:

    Sansa: It’s all I think about. What’s taken from me.

    Tormund: I thought he was the man to lead us through the Long Night, but I was wrong.

    Ramsay: Do you like games, little man?

    These haven’t appeared, but they scream Episode 9 to me.

  162. Ginevra: Littlefinger in the Godswood or wherever.Did we get all of the Sansa explaining what Ramsay did to her?There are lines in some of the trailers that we hear but have not seen delivered.I’m not certain we will.I need to relook to see if that’s all because we sure got a lot more than we thought in the trailers.

    There’s also one with sad-looking Sansa turning to her left and looking at a man. Some clever guys lightened the photo and it looked like a man with a beard and a man bun. We all know by now who that is. 🙂

  163. Nothing too exciting this week. I look forward to these pics because usually they reveal things that weren’t shown in the preview. I cant happens usually cant wait to see what happens with Arya, considering the episode title.

  164. Flayed Potatoes:
    Ginevra,

    There’s still that shot of Walder Frey celebrating which we have not seen.

    And these lines:

    Sansa: It’s all I think about. What’s taken from me.

    Tormund: I thought he was the man to lead us through the Long Night, but I was wrong.

    Ramsay: Do you like games, little man?

    These haven’t appeared, but they scream Episode 9 to me.

    That was the Sansa line I was trying to remember! And I’d forgotten those other lines. We have a ton left.

  165. Making the 8:
    . I like that Cersei remains so damn smug even though everything she does ends up blowing up in her face.

    Smirking is one of the things Thrones does best. Trouble for Cersei is that the HSparrow smirks with more variation and with a more intense degree of insolence.

    You can play the game of thrones and not die, but he who smirks last wins.

  166. Thinking back about all of the promotional stuff before the trailers centered around the HoB&W, I’m getting seriously stoked about Sunday’s episode!!! What all did we have?

    *The teaser video with all the top characters, dead and alive, added to the faces.
    *The make-your-own-face-or-some-famous-politician’s-face-appear-in-the-Hall game thingamabob
    *The giant Hall at the premiere, right?
    *The official poster and all those tweets to hype the poster

    Am I missing anything? Oh, the faces were the face of the season, right?

    Wow. “No One” should be our last view ever of the HoB&W, which was an incredible focus for the promotional push. I hope that Arya’s storyline is all I ever dreamed it would be!!! Please let her take some faces or the secret for making the faces with her.

  167. Gd75,

    I was just wondering the same! Perhaps this is when Varys leaves. Also Tyrion is supposed to hallucinate someone. Or maybe Varys leaves in the finale to “prepare” for Dany to arrive in KL. First she needs to get back and meet with Theon and Yara. Ahh, so little time…

  168. ATrueFool:
    Dee,

    Could the theater troupe be heading to Westeros?

    I always thought that Arya would return to Westeros with the acting troupe. Just as a play recalled Arya to herself, a play in KL will indict some bad people and cause them to reveal their true crimes, as in Hamlet Act 2 Scene 2. Chaos and retribution will follow.

  169. Is it possible that some of the lines from the trailer – the ones you just hear but don’t see – are voice overs by the cast?

    The Tormund line would seem to come when Jon was “dead” but we never heard it – I can’t see how it would make sense in Episode 9 or 10, unless Jon is dying again. 😉 We never heard the 3ER line either, and now he’s dead. I think they may just have certain lines recorded to give a tease for the season.

    I’m going to be so so disappointed if the North isn’t in this episode. I’ve convinced myself that it absolutely needs to be in it, because even if episode 9 is a ton of North, it’ll feel like such a bummer if it’s left out. I’ve been holding the faith that it IS a huge season for Jon, as Kit says, but missing 4 episodes doesn’t feel right.

  170. Darkrobin,

    What if… Arya joins the troupe and kills Frey during the celebration? In an interview (truth/lie game?), Maisie Williams said that she would not be recognized in some of her scenes. In another thread awhile back, someone linked a photo of the guests with an arrow pointing to a face that looked out of place.

  171. I don’t think Cersei will directly target Lancel for this kill. She still has hope for the Lannister hold on the Crown and for that she needs Kevan for the lack of anyone else.

    Also, if Cersei is playing with wildfire as has been foreshadowed I am guessing this could be the thing that causes Jaime to turn his back on her at last. Wildfire was what led him to Kingslay after all.

  172. ash:
    taim,

    It is ridiculous how they just tossed his return under the bus; but actually when he wakes up, she asks him what he saw, and he said ‘nothing, nothing at all’.At face value that could mean there is indeed nothing.It could also mean that he couldn’t see the things he needed toat the time, or he wasn’t allowed to remember what he saw.….but yeah,I so wish they would have had a few conversations with NW, the Mutineers, others folk about it all.Just not happening I guess

    Tho I do have to say its interesting how many characters are dying in a sense then returning as someone else (someone up post named several).Could be why his isn’t emphasized – all people can change and become someone else, or no one if they choose

    taim: yes, its kind of ridicolous, was hoping the whole time that Melisandre would have at least some discussion with jon about the lord of light, but it doesnt look like it will happen now. they treated this whole issue like its just a casual thing.

    This is what happens when you expect too much. Right now the focus is getting Rickon and their home back. All that extra shit you want will happen later.

  173. Isn’t there a relatively simple explanation of what happens to RR and the Blackfish?

    Brienne arrives. Jaime has already promised BF safe passage if he surrenders the castle. Brienne enters the castle to re-negotiate the deal, this time bearing news from North. BF and his men abandon the castle, Jaime keeps his word, and the Frey’s celebrate. BF and his men wind up in the the big battle in E09.

  174. Ginevra,

    This is a really good point. Was it a convenient marketing tool, or was it a hint. The Faceless Men are still a big mystery and given their powers, this organization could have very very deep roots around the world. Maybe arya blows the lid off of the secrecy this week and we learn more about them. The potential of Arya and Bran’s storylines are still so massive.
    Alter the past. See the future. Become anyone.

  175. Chad Brick,

    Fingers crossed for this storyline.

    And while the cat is away (Jaime) the mouse will play (Cersei).
    He will never look at her the same way again.

  176. More stills for 608 out at the usual place that posts them. Would feel disrespectful to post a link to another site here so won’t. But they are out there.

  177. Arya’s Contingency Plan?

    This girl is SMART! Better than any of the Stark kids, she takes care of *herself.* Always ambivalent about becoming a FM, she has been working on Plan B all along, starting with hiding Needle–just in case…

    By now, she has furnished a hideout somewhere in Bravos. During the past few years, she has stashed there: candles and a makeshift table, clothes for diverse purposes, magic water and other potions, cash (begged, stolen, found) and maybe a spare face.

    Jaqen issues an ultimatum (under penalty of Death?). She’s conflicted about it, and she’s in deep doo-doo. After poisoning the rum, she embraces Plan B, saves and warns Lady Crane. Waif and the rival actress exchange meaningful glances. After she retrieves Needle, we next see her in her cozy hideout.

    I really *like* the theory that Jaqen may be impersonating her to test/punish Waif, and I read somewhere that Maisie Williams was directed on walking a certain way. Even so, this scenario might work as well:

    Arya’s best bet is to fake her death and get outta town ASAP. She books a cabin on a ship leaving for Westeros tomorrow. As she leaves this meeting, she takes back her money. So case she misses this chance, she can afford another.

    She relaxes for a moment to behold the Titan Gateway to Home. Suddenly (intentionally?), she is ambushed by Waif–we glimpse W’s “real” face during the attack. W sees lots of A’s blood in the water, figures she is dead and exits.

    This was a real fight with real blood, and Arya is in mortal danger. “What do we say to Death?” (Syrio Forel) “Not today!” She staggers back to her hideout, where she can cure herself overnight and board that ship tomorrow.

    The next morning, she is (almost?) healed. She changes into pants and a blue shirt for her trip. For some reason, she must go to the “upstairs” level (not necessarily to the HB&W–I hope she’s too smart for that!). The Waif spots her, so she jumps “downstairs” to escape.

    In the process, her wound starts to bleed again. She grips it with her left hand and heads to her hideout for medication, leaving a blood smear to lure W into a *dark* trap. Thanks to blindness training, Arya zaps her with Needle.

    Bye-bye, Bravos!

    P.S. Since Arya is left-handed, Williams was taught to use a sword with her left hand (I read this somewhere). For other purposes, she uses her genetic right hand. For example, when she stole Tywin’s message at Harrenhal:

    http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/gameofthrones/images/c/ce/Arya_steals.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/640?cb=2012

  178. Halfman,
    Lulus Mum,

    As noted in the other post:
    Re Arya scenes:

    It appears that there is a continuity error if you are talking about the blond guy in the blue outfit who pivots around Arya as he passes her on the street. In the close up he nearly bumps into her and then passes her. Then on the wide shot immediately after he is behind her again walking towards her. Unless this another time loop, it seems like the close up should have followed the wide shot.

    I don’t know who it might be, if that’s who you are referring to although he appears blonde and handsome.

  179. ATrueFool,

    Regarding the “that’s not Arya” theories, I’m not at all convinced, and I believe it was despite the inconsistencies such as righthandedness, but to support you…

    At first I was like, no way, no how are they going to try and pull that, but then I remembered two key things…

    Glamoring is a powerful magic able to literally transform the physical body drastically, or at least how people perceive it.

    AND
    Evidence in passages in the books suggest the Faceless Men use several techniques for “swapping” faces, including glamor. ““Years of prayer and sacrifice and study are required to work a proper glamor.” – Jaqen to Arya. It’s suggested that some use simple disguises, some are able to don faces, and some are able to use magic to transform their appearance beyond just wearing a dead man/woman’s face.

    These things considered, it is not outside the realm of possibility that this was Mr Kindly-Jaqen Man.

    AND THEN THEY ALL DIED.

  180. Marlana,

    Exactly that. That’s been the use I can see being made of the acting troupe with Arya as a part of it. Entry into a castle that she might not otherwise be able to gain access to.

  181. LyannaBanna,

    Exactly my thought. As soon as I heard Walter Frey say that “I will not leave the world until they all choke on that laughter,” I haven’t thought of a better way for him to choke. Maybe a play involving some event that Frey would find amusing. I’d love to hear the Rains of Castamere playing in the background. Probably too much to hope for.

  182. MoDo,

    Agree.

    in the books, Jacqen transforms into the Alchemist (likely) before he leaves Arya, and then after he (likely) kills Pate, he (likely) transforms into Pate. If so, unless he was an exact replica of Pate, he glamoured into Pate

    so I like your theory

  183. Bob Warren,

    “Shae” is an illusion or “glamour” of the red priestess (ala Mance Rayder and Rattleshirt) to seduce Tyrion because the “power” that she senses in him. Like Melisandre and Jon Snow.

  184. Jack Bauer 24: And how would they get Arya’s face on her? Lady Crane is going to cut her face off? I don’t think it works like that. Arya’s face would have to be added to the Hall first.

    Yeah, that’s what I’d like to know. I’ve seen all the speculation that that wasn’t Arya who got knifed. But I’ve not seen any explanation as to how Arya’s face could end up on someone else. I’d think peeling off Arya’s face would result in massive blood loss, trauma, and/or death.

    Nadia:
    Is it possible that some of the lines from the trailer – the ones you just hear but don’t see – are voice overs by the cast?

    I suspect that some of those lines were specifically recorded for the trailers (the 3ER’s) and some lines (Tormund’s) ended up on the cutting room floor. Kind of like Jon’s line, “It’s as if I went to sleep for a year and when I woke up the world’s fallen apart”, from the S4 trailer.

  185. The episode titles usually refer to different characters and plots. I expect the episode to focus in Arya. But “No one” should also be referring to other characters: Cersei because she has lost power in King’s Landing, maybe Loras because he is forced to abandon his identity as a Tyrell, Sandor who lost his new found life… the Mountain is just a zombie that follows orders …

  186. Pigeon,

    Thanks for the link … still no sign of the North. I don’t mind as long as the other storylines are interesting …
    Tyrion looks amazing in that blue outfit but he looks like a foreigner…
    I expect we’ll see Varys leave Mereen and return to Westeros to make a deal with Ellaria and maybe Olenna in episode 10.
    The Waif looks really surprise to watch Arya alive … Arya did make a trick somehow or receive help from someone.
    The new Red Priestess has the same necklace …

  187. Mikes

    I hope the other two are Tully forces headed by the Blackfish and a surprise group headed by Howland Reed. He’s been shown in the past vision and mentioned by the 3ER – it is time for the present day character to appear.

  188. Mag,

    No problem, I didn’t expect them to be up yet so soon. Yes interesting about the costuming….that pattern seems pretty red priest/ess standard!

  189. Chad Brick:
    Isn’t there a relatively simple explanation of what happens to RR and the Blackfish?

    Brienne arrives. Jaime has already promised BF safe passage if he surrenders the castle. Brienne enters the castle to re-negotiate the deal, this time bearing news from North. BF and his men abandon the castle, Jaime keeps his word, and the Frey’s celebrate. BF and his men wind up in the the big battle in E09.

    I would agree with you, except for the snippet in the preview of Brienne seemingly leaving furtively at night in that boat down the river, seemingly escaping something. In the scenario you’re describing Brienne would have no reason to escape at night.

  190. Lulus Mum,
    It would be off-topic, I know, but I’m so busy these days that I have less and less time for WOTW and the wonderful people here – worst time to be busy, I know, but I really need to keep my job 🙂
    What I mean to say while beating around the bush is that I was broken-hearted when I saw the preview with Brienne and Jaime. And your post on another thread gave me hope that maybe, maybe Jaime was not telling Brienne that he loved Cersei! *prays*
    Thanks a million!

  191. Ginevra: That was the Sansa line I was trying to remember!And I’d forgotten those other lines.We have a ton left.

    Other lines we haven’t heard:
    Bran: “They have no idea, what is going to happen”

    Three Eyed Raven: “We watch, we listen, and we remember.”

  192. Jamie + Jon. I just got reminded of the season 1 scene they had together and now I really want them to meet again. I’d like Jamie to redeem himself. If L+R=J and he were to find that out he could see Rhaegar’s son as someone he wants to defend. After all, Jamie did feel guilt over not being able to protect R’s other children and the man he looked up to, Dayne, died protecting Jon. Besides I just want to see how the two would interact with each other. They have very different personalities. Jamie tends to ask pointed questions and that could draw Jon out of his shell a bit.

  193. Many people seemed to think that Jon/Sansa won’t be in this episode because of their absence in the previews… but they didn’t appear in the episode 4 promos as well where they reunited

    Can’t wait for the zombie mountain wreck some sparrows. They’re all over the red keep full of confidence. It would be satisfying to wipe off the high sparrow’s smug grin for once.

  194. Nadia:
    Is it possible that some of the lines from the trailer – the ones you just hear but don’t see – are voice overs by the cast?

    The Tormund line would seem to come when Jon was “dead” but we never heard it – I can’t see how it would make sense in Episode 9 or 10, unless Jon is dying again. We never heard the 3ER line either, and now he’s dead. I think they may just have certain lines recorded to give a tease for the season.

    I’m going to be so so disappointed if the North isn’t in this episode. I’ve convinced myself that it absolutely needs to be in it, because even if episode 9 is a ton of North, it’ll feel like such a bummer if it’s left out. I’ve been holding the faith that it IS a huge season for Jon, as Kit says, but missing 4 episodes doesn’t feel right.

    I had assumed that line would come up in episode 9. It looks like Tormund is talking about Mance here, to Jon. I am thinking what he says is “I thought he (Mance) was the one to lead us through the Long Night. I was wrong. It is you”
    Regarding the 3ER’s line “We watch, we listen, we remember” , it was not really from the trailer for S6. It was from that promo clip that was released in Dec last year, and that voice-over might have been done for the purpose of that clip only. It might not have been from an actual scene.

    Pigeon,

    Sons emulating their fathers by dressing up like them seems to be a thing this year! Jaime looks good.

  195. Phoenix_from_Ice,

    Sansa was in the preview for episode 4 and we got lots of photos of castle black so it was clear that jon would appear too.They are not in this episode as much as it pains me to say it

  196. A little comment to the people who don’t think Sansa seems that bothered by Giants, Jon’s resurrection. Well growing up in the North they would of known all about the stories of Giants and Magic etc.

    The world in which they live has had confirmed Dragons in it, magic is part of the history of where they live. Everyone will now know that Daenarys has 3 Dragons on Essos.

    So Jon, Davos & Tormund relaying the story to Sansa about Jon’s resurrection, with a giant strolling around, then explaining about the Walkers would be a lot of screen time of Sansa saying “Wow, I can’t believe it, maybe you have some kind of destiny or something”. It wouldn’t come across well, and would be quite long. They dealt with that reaction, with Tormund, Wildlings, Edd, Davos and Melisandre’s reaction, Sansa is onboard with it now.

  197. King Podrick,

    I know what the focus is. But I just think it poor storytelling to just leave that part out. Am I expecting too much? No – probably not as much as others expecting LSH….. 🙂 Just something I’d like to see happen.

  198. Bob Warren,
    I doubt that there will be any appearance of

    Shae (or another character assuming the looks of Shae). The sightings of Sibel Kekilli on set in costume have been arranged so as to troll fans. If you look carefully at the pictures of autumn 2015 showing her on set, you can see that she isn’t wearing a wig or hair extensions as she used to in character of Shae before, and you can even see that she is wearing her earrings. In a short red carpet interview earlier this year, Sibel Kekilli mentioned that the role of Shae is over – see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p23vRUAw0F0
    Verbally she said (in German) “Shae is as dead as Jon Snow”.
  199. Will we find out this episode who

    will be on crosses in episode 9

    even at this stage I am not sure and can only guess

    Melisandre and Edd

    as it was reported to be known characters.

  200. ash,
    Cool! It’s sounds so stupid when you try to explain things like that to other people 😀 Are you from this side of the pond or somewhere else with close ties to the UK? I vaguely imagined you were in North America but I think of that as the default location for most people on here as so many posters are 🙂

  201. Shy Lady Dragon,
    Hi sweetie *donkey ears waving overdrive* Good to hear from you! I know how much you love Braime but *whispers* if it’s not meant to be imagine the awesomeness that Brimund could be. He clearly thinks she’s marvellous and has done from the second he first saw her. As someone else said it’s the ship we didn’t realise we needed 😀

    Ginevra,
    Not yet no, popular opinion on here is that it’s likely to be

    Varys’s former little birds going stabby-stabby on someone. Maybe Kevan and/or Pycelle to bring them back to the same place as the books?

    Ser Not Appearing in this Series,
    I’m indifferent to whether this particular theory is correct or not, but having seen that person being interviewed on tv yesterday I instantly thought it’s the right profile outline for

    Syrio Forel.

    The whole question of what’s going on in Arya’s story next episode is getting stranger by the minute! ?

  202. Dee Stark,
    Abort, abort, pull out now Dee, you don’t want to know what that is, believe me! From your friendly neighbourhood looker outer for people who don’t want to be spoiled 😀

  203. Lulus Mum,

    I thought that profile resembled

    Syrio Forel

    too. I assumed I must be imagining it, good to know you think the same too 🙂 . I am very curious to see how Arya’s arc in Braavos wraps up.

  204. Lulus Mum,

    I feel exactly the same as you! It is an uncannily similar profile, though I never gave any credence to “that” theory.

    Maybe the writers are just toying with us!

  205. ghost of winterfell, Ser Not Appearing in this Series,
    I’m not a fantasy fan so the whole faceless men thing doesn’t appeal to me very much and to be honest I’ve found it rather dull so far. However the weirdness of that last Arya scene – including the could that possibly be who we think it is or is it an over used extra, and if it is them why on earth would they be there man in blue – and now that silhouette have left me baffled. Suddenly I want to know exactly what’s going on in Braavos whereas before I wouldn’t have missed it if I never saw it again. I’m glad it’s not just me whose going “huh???” at the moment 😀

  206. Ser Not Appearing in this Series:
    Picture of the Waif is interesting, who’s behind here? It’s not her shadow.

    http://www.farfarawaysite.com/section/got/gallery6/gallery8/hires/11.jpg

    You know who I think that is? The blonde dude dressed in blue that some people are referring to that they’ve seen in several background shots, The one who looks like Olyvar! He has the same shape and seems to be wearing the neck ruff too. Either he’s an over-used extra or perhaps there’s a reason we keep seeing him…could this be Arya or J’aqen with another face?

  207. Dee Stark,
    No you’re fine so far 😀 That picture is only a potential spoiler if you know about something which happened a little while ago in the books but hasn’t yet in the show. It appears they have rearranged events time-wise but are now catching up on themselves. You don’t want to know who it is or what they might be doing so avoid any discussion on that particular shot.

  208. Dee Stark,

    Tormund could be saying that about Mance, to Jon. “I thought he (Mance) was the one to lead us through the Long Night, I was wrong. It is you”.
    It could be Tormund giving Jon some pep talk before the battle, he definitely needs one 🙂 .

  209. Dee Stark,

    Probably Mance. We should have some interactions between the characters before Jon goes to war. Maybe Tormund is giving him a pep talk.

  210. Notice the Mountains armor? its dented, by the same weapon Lancel uses! Lancel is done.

  211. Lancel is annoying.

    Honestly, im excited to see what happens in KL, but I feel bad for poor Tommen 🙁

    It seems like there is a lot going on, we may not see the North. (I am not basing on the lack of pics/preview of the North), just that it seems jam packed with the RR, KL, Bravos, and Mereen stuff.

  212. Dee Stark,

    I don’t like Lancel either lol and Tommen is an idiot and a weak king. Hell, Lyanna Mormont would make a better king than him, and she is 10 years old and a Lady! She would even make a better queen than Daenerys lol.

  213. I’ve had this discussion with a few people and I think it makes most sense that there will not be a trial by combat. And the reason is in the tease.

    Why would Cersei “choose violence” if there is a trial? She’s doing this BEFORE the trial. And if she is doing it before the trial, then she is going on a bloodlust.

    And in one of the teasers for this season, earlier in the year, we saw a sad Tommen saying something to the effect of “you always hated her” to his mother.

    Cersei kills ALL her enemies. Including the Queen. Hopefully the Queen of Thorns gets out before it happens.

  214. worfwworfington,

    As much as I want cleganbowl to happen I think you’re right. Trial by combat will be denied somehow. I could also see them using Loras as their champion if TBC is allowed creating a freaking nightmare for tommen and hyping up more bad blood between cersei and the queen of thorns

  215. redxgod,

    Hahahahaha, yeah no, that ain’t happening. He’s an actual idiot. And weak for transitioning that easily. I could never see Tommen as a master strategist.

    But if that were to actually happen (which i highly doubt) it would be the biggest mindfuck ever lmao. 😛

  216. Connor,

    Tommen is not an idiot. I never understood this comment.
    What he did has united the people again, and they love them for it.
    In regards to his mother’s actions after what he did, well based on the conversation they had, she said to him that Marg’s release will be their top priority, and that’s what he did.
    But as a king, he did it right. He avoided having a battle and risking lives. And the people love them. Its not his fault his mother is psychotic.

    He was weak, yes, but he was also a child.

  217. Nadia: The HS and the Sparrows are evil religious zealots, but one side doesn’t have to be good and one side bad

    What makes them “evil”, other than their homophobia, which in such times was a cultural norm? It is also for the most part a TV addition (as are almost all matters with respect to homosexuality on the show).

    As with Dany’s crucifixions and burnings, I am a bit hesitant to simply slap the “evil” label on someone who is simply acting as a normal member of their culture would in their position. Or more generally, I think it is a mistake to judge the actions of fictional characters via the lens of modern sensibility. Most Americans were strongly homophobic a mere generation ago. Does that make my grandparents evil?

  218. Ghost Crow:
    worfwworfington,

    As much as I want cleganbowl to happen I think you’re right. Trial by combat will be denied somehow. I could also see them using Loras as their champion if TBC is allowed creating a freaking nightmare for tommen and hyping up more bad blood between cersei and the queen of thorns

    If there is a trial, it will be Loras, as the mountain eliminates Team Lancel before they even leave the Red Keep. If there is a Cleganebowl (and there may well be), it is not as part of Cersei’s trial.

  219. That silhouette behind the Waif looks like Syrio Forrel !!! look at the height and the hair.

  220. Chad Brick,

    What makes the HS and his followers different from Ramsey. My biggest bugbear is the fact that they are obviously ‘torturing’ Loras and there other prisoners but this is never seen giving them a veil of being ‘good’ and honorable when they are really no different.

  221. I cant see what would bring the Hound to KL in three episodes. He has to deal with the stuff where he is, and then move.

  222. Dee Stark:
    I cant see what would bring the Hound to KL in three episodes. He has to deal with the stuff where he is, and then move.

    And if he were to go anywhere, it would be north. He’s attracted to Stark girls, you know, and Arya is a tad bit harder to find right now than her sister. I see no reason he’d head south at this point.

  223. Sacred Lime,

    I looked up Syrio Forel images in Google Images, and the only way the silhouette of the guy behind the Waif could even more resemble Syrio is if they hired the Syrio actor…

    I don’t think it’s him, I think the producers are just trolling us now- they brought the Hound back, they brought Cat’s uncle back… so you could think maybe…

  224. Chad Brick,

    I’d assume he’d be a bit pissed off at Arya…
    But it’s quite possible that if he and Arya met again she’d run up and hug him and start apologizing and he likely would have no idea what to think of that.

  225. Based on the teasers and pics and potential leaks, I think things will go down like this (part of this is based on information from a proven leak, don’t read this):

    1. The Faith announces some big twist in the trial by combat.
    2. Cersei tells Tommen she doesn’t want him at the trial and somehow convinces him to stay behind.
    3. When Cersei doesn’t show up for her trial, the Faith sends a force to get her.
    4. Cersei chooses violence and kills them all.

    EXTRA SPECIAL DANGEROUS SPOILERS:

    As everyone waits for Cersei in the Sept, she executes her revenge.

    Later, perhaps in episode 10, Tommen grieves for the loss of his wife. Cersei thinks she’s won. He is depressed. She tells him she will find him a younger even more beautiful wife. Tommen says something like “I loved her, mother.” And then Cersei discovers that a prophecy is only true because she made it true.

  226. aabe:
    “The Starks would not have lost the North if Ned did not leave to KL, Ned would not have left if Jon Arryn wasn’t killed, and Littlefinger caused Jon Arryn’s death. That is just one example of LF’s evil schemes.”

    Worse. LF betrayed Ned and always planned to, both extract revenge for his humiliation by Brandon, to stick it to the lords and most importantly to be by Catelyn’s side once more in some capacity. So it is likely that LF gave Joffrey the idea of killing Ned to assert himself and show all of KL and Westeros who’s boss in the most public manner possible. Maybe LF even bribed Joff to do it by allowing to him to abuse some of LF’s whores. LF is the most complex, multi-dimensional string-pulling villain in the whole saga. Ramsay is an cunning unrepentent sadist, but he’s shallow by comparison.

  227. Lancel is pretty.

    I’m guessing this might be the last time that pretty mug graces my tv screen.

  228. redxgod,

    Loras has been abused but nearly as much as Theon was. A big difference I think is that Loras can get out, he can give the HS what he wants and get out- but despite what he told Marg he hasn’t actually broken, he’s still holding out he told Marg he was broken he’d do anything to “make it stop” – but apparently he actually hasn’t yet.

    Theon/Ramsay OTOH- there was nothing Then could do to make it stop- to the HS abuse is a means to an end, to Ramsay the abuse was the end. It makes the HS more Machiavellian whereas Ramsay is just a sick twisted bastard.

  229. Stark Raven’ Rad: LF betrayed Ned and always planned to

    I’m not sure, yes LF was very jealous of Ned, but the guy he really hated, Ned’s older brother, was long dead. LF was/is very opportunistic- if Robert didn’t die, wasn’t mortally wounded, I have no doubt LF would have sided with Ned when Ned moved against Cersei- if Ned had the sense to go along with Renly’s plan (which was actually a good one) LF quite likely would have sided with them – and betrayed Cersei

    LF was going to be on the winning side no matter how it shook out.

  230. jpwf,

    Yeah, also to include it in the images, knowing that the fans will instantly pick up on it makes me think it isn’t as well. It’d be so brilliant if it was though… even if it’s just a faceless man with his face.

  231. Roast,

    I 100% believe this. Tommen intervenes somehow, Mountain tosses him aside, killing him. Ser Pounce ascends to the throne.

    Also think Knights of the Vale show up at winterfell, help save the day, castle is retaken and Sansa has Littlefinger imprisoned or executed by getting Robin to turn on him. Transformation into a player in the game is complete.

  232. Chad Brick,

    But that way of thinking can lead to excuse every human behavior. Couldn’t it? Do we excuse slavery because that was the way it was back in the day? Should we give slavers a pass because the majority of their peers were also participating and profiting from the system? What about the abolitionists? Were they simply an oddity? For everyone you can excuse as being a product of their time (bigots, racists, etc.) there were contemporaries who were not all those things. How do you explain them other than to think they were better people? Maybe I am not enough of a pessimist but to me basic human decency is something we are born with, it is not a modern concept, it’s always been there.

  233. Looks like Meereen isn’t a ghost town after all. Seriously, where were all the people during the previous Meereen scenes, especially in the first episode?

  234. Braavos – where you don’t wipe off your knife, but do a wardrobe switch before resuming your chase. ?

  235. Demon Monkey:
    The truth is the succession is up for grabs if Tommen goes. They could revert to Targarean rule under Dany or Jon, or I suppose if Tywin really was in line it could be Jaime or Kevan. But I think the rule of law /tradition only goes so far.

    The Crown would be passed to the next closest in line. For example if edmure were to die childless and since blackfish is to old to have any, Riverrun would pass to Bran Stark.

    The real House Baratheon is extinct, Gendry is not legitimized… If tommen dies, then Queen margery selects the next amel heir in line to succeed. The next living kin to Tommen is his uncle/father Jamie. House Lannister of KL would usurp and finally eliminate “house baratheon” .

    Danny will never rule the 7 kingdoms. House Targaryens fate was sealed when Vyseris died. Jon is a bastard, and even if turns out to be rhaegars legitimiate son, no one will ever know besides bran. The only thing Jon can hope for is Robbs will to make him heir of Winterfell. Jon Stark, lord of winterfell.

  236. BunBunStark: The new Red Priestess is wearing the ‘Mel choker’ and her dress has the hexagonal design.

    Yikes, the image of Brienne & Pod overlooking the siege of Riverrun is some serious photoshop fail.

    It looks like a painted mural. Lol. Or they’re at the movies!

  237. Daughter of Winter,

    I don’t believe they are sitting out. They have been in plenty of episodes where they weren’t mentioned in the synopsis nor in the episode trailer. I believe they will be in this episode because the battle is not fully set-up enough.

  238. Darkrobin:
    WorfWWorfington,

    I would agree wholeheartedly except perhaps the HS’s hubris and complacency might make him blind to it, or at least the timing of it.He’s won every battle he’s fought.Maybe a little overconfident?As you suggest, he might think (incorrectly) Tommen is a good shield against Cersei.And that may lead to the HS and Tommen’s demise.Or maybe Margaery gets killed and Tommen cannot live with the grief.Don’t know.But if I were betting, I would bet Tommen does not survive this season (and possibly episode 8).

    If Tommen does not survive the season/episode, who takes the throne next?

  239. Megan,

    I don’t understand why people think he is changing again? He has always loved Cersei. He has been pretty open and honest about it. But now you hate him because he is doing his duty as a Lannister? If he didn’t go do it, he would probably be killed for going against the Faith Militant. I like Jamie’s arc into actual leader of men. Yes, it sucks he is with Lannister army (always has been) and it sucks he is going against Blackfish. but remember he did give them a chance to surrender instead of him attacking. Jamie has always been the lovesick puppy. only season he wasn’t was when he went to Dorne (worst subplot in show history). Don’t hate the character completely because he is leading the opposite side of your favorite.

  240. Melanie Liburd finally! I wonder why they needed to cast yet another person of the Red Order? The High priestess and the Red priest both had significant speaking parts, so how is this priestess different? Unless it’s to show how the religion is becoming prevalent, and perhaps they will take over much of Essos, like The Seven for Westeros.

  241. Mustangride,

    I thought the thumping noise was a Red Priestess putting fire into a light or making the fire bigger? Guess I didn’t hear a thump of dragon landing on pyramid top.

  242. Ser Todrik,

    after Tommen there is not a clear cut “next”. Its up for grabs to whoever has the desire (and the army) to take (or keep) it. Right now we know Dany IS going to try and take it and Cersie MAY try and keep it. Hell, the Iron Bank may say its pay up time and take it as payment for all the money that is owed to them. Which might actually be a different type of twist lol.

  243. Dee,

    I don’t believe the Blackfish will die at all nor Jamie.

    In the books the Blackfish jumps into the river and escapes. We magically see brienne floating down a river in the boat. Also, the camera shots from last episode made a point to show how high up the bridge is to the river. Also, the Blackfish was looking down at the fall. It could happen where Blackfish decides to defend castle instead of head north and brienne is floating off hearing the men the fighting, assuming all Tully’s are dying. But I think he will get away free
  244. dragonmcmx,

    I think it is to suggest that in the first episode people were more or less hiding in their homes as the threat from the Sons of the Harpys was greater. Since Tyrion negotiated the 7 year plan the violence has dwindled and everyone can come out to play…

    …until the street lights come on, of course.

  245. Don’t know how much of a spoiler this is but I been thinking about the scene where Walder Frey is toasting. More than likely is after BF surrenders RR. I’m any case I have a strong feeling Arya offs him by poisoning everyone in that room. Its seems more logical for that to be episode 10 but for some reason I think it will be in 8. I don’t know how Arya ends up in westeros but I think she will be in the riverlands. Meaning the stuff with the waif was some crazy plot where someone else was posing as her or something of that nature. It seems far fetched but this show is known for things like that. I feel Arya left as soon as she retrieved needle and high tail out of Braavos. [\spoiler]

  246. MyLittleHODOR:
    Look at the photo with Waif. The man behind her looks exactly like Syrio Forel.

    Yeah. That silhouette was definitely designed to get us talking. Doesn’t mean that’s who it is of course but I’m pretty sure they put that in there on purpose.

  247. A comment way earlier about Wun Wun got me thinking. When the J-S-D team was going around looking for support while talking about the true threat of White Walkers and their army they could have brought a frickin’ giant along as a visual aid. For the typical resident of the seven kingdoms giants are just as much a part of legends and stories told to children as the WWs and the Children. They could just be like, “Look, a giant. He’s real. It’s all real and Winter is Coming very soon!”

  248. Stargaryen,

    I hated is character the whole time. I didn’t buy this whole redemption arc. He less evil than Cercei but he’s still a evil wicked Lannister and should die like all of them. I felt that way since he pushed Brandon out the window. People were like, oh he gets a bad rap for killing the mad king but people don’t know the entire story. Yes but it’s black and white what he did to Bran.

  249. anon:
    I was under the impression that all the people in the “hall of faces” promo before the series began would come back to life.I can’t identify all who were speaking in it – can anyone else?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmrA8nOZF2Q

    You were? Including the headless ones? It was just marketing material.
    Speaking in order: Ned, Robb, Catelyn, Joffrey, Jon. They show the face of each as they speak.

  250. Lulus Mum,

    I salute your donkey ears! May they always wear feathers!
    Oh, yes, Brimund was a pleasant surprise and, at least at that moment, I was tempted to prefer that ship – Jaime may hear me admitting it if he keeps on loving and being devoted to Cersei! Unfortunately I’m afraid that Tormund has even fewer chances to survive than Jaime. And it pains me to see that Jaime has forgotten a certain bath scene and how it feels to have your inner good to be awaken.

  251. Stargaryen,

    Didn’t read your spoiler covered stuff

    But I hope the BF doesn’t die and hope you’re right
    Jamie, as a Lannister who pushed little bran out the window, can die. Unless he repents that by helping Brienne – which I doubt

  252. Lulus Mum,

    We have traveled throughout the UK many times, but no, we live in the states, the southwest to be exact 🙂 It would be cool to live somewhere else tho! Ive thought about it often during this long election season…

  253. Wun Too:
    Ginevra,

    Alter the past. See the future. Become anyone.

    Thank you! Bran is the ultimate spymaster – I mean, you cannot get any more intel than being able to see every freaking thing in the world: past, present, and future. But he cannot alter the past: “The past is already written. The ink is already dry.”

    What he can do is see the future and perhaps alter the future, although that may be a closed loop, as well. If so, that really gets us in way deeper philosophically than we should go, and so I won’t go there. Certainly, we are meant to assume that Bran can use this near-omniscience to influence the Great War for the better, to push in the places that need pushing, and to pull in the places that need pulling.

    And my greatest hope for Arya is that she walks away with the secret to making faces now that she already knows how to apply them. Then she could truly become anyone as long as she was willing and able to kill that person first. To me, that opens up every door imaginable. She could kill and become Walder Frey and send all Frey men to the Wall. As Walder Frey, she could then easily kill and become Jaime and send his troops to the Wall. With no more men to lay siege, the Blackfish could send his men to the Wall. As Jaime, she could easily kill and become Cersei and perhaps fulfill the valonqar prophecy. As Cersei, she could kill and become Tommen and send all of the rest of the king’s men to the Wall. As Tommen, she might even be able to send Highgarden men and just about everyone to the Wall.

  254. Clob,
    My friend said the exact same thing. Why didn’t they use Wun Wun as a visual aid? 🙂

    On new pics
    -This Red Priestess is absolutely beautiful. And is she looking straight at Tyrion? What is up with all this red priestess eye contact he’s had since the bridge in Volantis. What? Stop staring you’re freaking him out. haha

    -Tommen–look at him. Trapped on the throne between Pycelle and Kevan-with High Sparrow in his head. He’s doomed.

    -I so want the shadow behind the Waif to be Syrio, but the gods are not that kind. 🙂

  255. Dee Stark,

    He was weak, yes, but he was also a child

    Yes. With an overly manipulative mother, who is easily swayed by the HS. Not much else he could do.

    I have often wondered why GRRM decided to make all of his characters so very young. They all make mistakes that are at best illogical and at worst disastrous. There is a reason why children usually aren’t given powers (tho then there is Lady Lyanna!) If they were all as brilliant as she is, none of this would be necessary

  256. ash,

    yeah, that’s an interesting point

    Lyanna is a special case…

    Lyanna’s scene was a mirror image of bran’s in season 1, except Bran’s was more realistic of how a child would behave hahaha

  257. Halfman,

    I can see that. I only saw a part of his face. Even freezing it, it was hard to see. But yes I could see it might be the same actor.

  258. OMG so much hype! I’m excited to see what happens this Sunday!

    Totally agree with people
    *There will be a twist by the FM bc Zombie Mountain killed those sparrows (But I don’t think that Cersei will “burn them all” this episode)
    *Arya obviously has a plan! I can’t wait to see the final showdown with the Waif. If that is Syrio Farrell I would be so freaking happy lol.
    *I agree that this new Priestess might use glamour (who knows)
    *I kind of wish that Tyrion releases the dragons from the pit and THAT is the noise he hears. but I’ll be okay if its Dany 🙂
    *I hope the BF and his co. escapes the castle because if Jaime kills anyone I like he will be on my sh*t list again -_-
    *I agree that Tommen is not making it this season, I’ve never liked Cersei and I want to see her lose everything

  259. BunBunStark: The new Red Priestess is wearing the ‘Mel choker’ and her dress has the hexagonal design.

    http://watchersonthewall.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/priestess-1024×682.jpg

    I love that hexagonal design of the dress matching the choker! Of course, I’m a fan of any geometrical patterns. I also find it awesome how gorgeous all of these Red Women are, especially Kinvara. They must all be using glamor. I’m not sure they are all as old as Mel. I don’t remember the red priests being hot. Were they? Did they not have the magical choker?

    :Googles: OMG! Get Thoros a fucking choker, pronto! http://screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/Game-of-Thrones-Thoros-Red-Priest.jpg

  260. Maggie: Of course Jaime wanted to honour his oath, he just didn’t know what to do when he found Sansa be Lady Lannister and married to his brother. He loved his brother..he couldn’t take his wife.
    Jaime isn’t Cersei’s puppy in the show as well when it comes to good.
    Cersei asked him to kill Tyrion but he saved him.
    Cersei asked him to kill Sansa but he gave his sword to Brienne and send her to save her.
    I think people are unfair to show Jaime, just because he doesn’t hate Cersei yet….. it doesn’t mean he didn’t change. He just had his daughter die in his arms and found his sister/lover humiliated, i don’t know how he could be a better person if he started crying for Lancel and Moonboy when universe is falling apart. He tried to free Marg and Loras.
    He went to Riverrun, demanded to feed and dress Edmure and offered peace to Blackfish…
    From the trailer, he leaves Brienne to enter and give Sansa’s message
    What else can he do?

    All of this. It’s just the usual if you’re not with the Starks you’re terrible crowd.

    It is annoying that Jaime appears not to know / care about the fact that Cersei got herself into her own mess. But, he probably feels that it’s his duty to help his family and King, especially since Cersei seems to have changed from the “hateful woman” he called her in S4.

    I do think that talking to Brienne will give him a bit of a Jolt, however. He really does respect her, she’s the kind of knight he always wished he could be. Especially if she mentions anything about the impending war against the WW, etc, he may in some way try to help them. Jaime wants to be a hero – he just happens to have been born a Lannister instead.

    By the way, it’s like some people have forgotten that Jaime spent most of a feast for crows

    moping about how Cersei cheated on him and making Snarky comments. Is that really the kind of “redemption” we want??? He finally turned a corner at the end of adwd when he made the choice to ride off with Brienne to go RESCUE SANSA. Heck, maybe that will be the same thing that happens here…
  261. Ser Todrik,

    It would probably be chaos. If the HS survives (and I don’t think he does) I think he would take the throne on behalf of the faith and appoint another successor. Technically, I’ve seen posts that would support Baratheon relationships to the Targaryens (thus Dany) and the Lannisters (and thus Jamie, or on Jamie’s death Tyrion – now wouldn’t that be the twist to end all twists). I’m sure in the books there may be another distant Baratheon we’ve never heard of but those are the two who have previously appeared on GoT 🙂

  262. I don’t know if a far reaching guess is considered a spoiler, but I don’t. So… does anyone think that shadow behind the waif looks like Arya’s old dancing friend?

  263. Beer Island:
    Stargaryen,

    I hated is character the whole time. I didn’t buy this whole redemption arc. He less evil than Cercei but he’s still a evil wicked Lannister and should die like all of them. I felt that way since he pushed Brandon out the window. People were like, oh he gets a bad rap for killing the mad king but people don’t know the entire story. Yes but it’s black and white what he did to Bran.

    No it’s not black and white, what he did to Bran. What were the options in front of Jaime here? If Bran were to speak of what he saw, to anyone, it meant certain death to Cersei, their children and to Jaime himself. Robert would have had them all killed, there is no doubt on that. Maybe he could have tried threatening Bran, but that meant that for the rest of his life he would be looking over his shoulder for the danger, risking the lives of his family on a 10 year old boy’s actions. And how would he even maintain his threat, once he left Winterfell?
    The only non violent option would have been all 5 of them fleeing Westeros, living out their lives in disguise, even in this case they would never be free from danger of course. Obviously this is not something Jaime or Cersei would ever consider doing.

    What Jaime did to Bran was evil yes. But it is not like he had too many options here. At the very least, it is not a black and white situation.

  264. Really can’t wait to find out what Arya is doing.

    Her scene last week still bothers me.

    Three more days and we will see just what her plan was, besides being a dumbass and letting herself get gutted…

  265. Dee Stark:
    Ginevra,

    I was looking at that in the trailer shots you posted earlier
    What is that?!?!?!

    It’s a trailer shot. I took the image from this post on the comprehensive breakdown of one of the two big trailers: http://watchersonthewall.com/comprehensive-breakdown-of-the-game-of-thrones-season-6-trailer/.

    I think it is from 1:18 in this video:

    As Lulu’s Mum says, this looks like a rather dangerous scene. You can watch in slo-mo if you click the gear-wheel icon in the lower right of the video, at 0.25 speed.

  266. Beer Island,

    To add to this, I can’t understand why people equate Theon’s redemption arc to Jamie’s. Not all people will forgive Theon for his betrayal of Robb but with him remorse is apparent, true remorse. Jamie never had decency to feel sorry for what he did to Bran or for being willing to kill Arya at Cersei’s request. Not in the books, not in the show. The times in which Jamie has questioned his actions have always involved how they have affected his persona. Not how it has affected others.

  267. The man behind the Waif is 100% the lad in blue from Arya’s streetwalk, her theatre viewing, and her parkour leap (the latter one is the less certain). It may seem tinfoily and thus easy to guess he’s an extra but he was the only one breaking the color palette in that street scene and it’s hard to imagine the director or producers being so sloppy with one extra appearing too many times. It is not Syrio Forel as we know him. But more to the point, everything matches the other shots of the lad in blue, especially the outfit’s silhouette (note the scarf and shoulders).

    If he’s a faceless man, he could obviously be “anybody,” but the body we’re seeing there is the lad in blue.

    Though I don’t think that is debatable, it’s also intriguing because there’s nothing save speculation on what it means.

  268. Danny,

    I understand what you are saying; no we should not give them a pass knowing what we know and being raised in this culture to believe. Yes there were others who were able to believe otherwise (if not, we never would have developed from those times). But those who were able to do so were often ostrasized (sp), exiled, tortured, killed. It wasn’t that others were nec better, they had more stamina, more tolerance of being Other, more strength (emotional and physical) to do what needed to be done at any cost., as well as luck. They went against there religion, government and community to do so. Thank goodness those folk were there, helping us move step by step to a better place now (tho I am under no illusion that is the case for all people in the world, places that still follow those unconsciously evil practices that we should continue to call out) Should we call those who were unable to stand up to the teachings of there culture inherently evil? Yes, but it might be better to say they were simply inherently human, and susceptible to the powers that be. Should they be called out on it? Sure, but its not going to matter much anymore. Should we call out those who still are racist, homophobic, misogonist, etc, of course we should. Thats where we make the change in ur world ….It will be interesting to go to the future in a thousand years to see what our culture will be taken to task for. ….

  269. Ginevra,

    I know!
    I meant what is the scene going to be? Cause I have no idea.

    But then Lulus Mum, told me if someone were to actually answer me, I will be spoiled. hahaha

  270. Lulus Mum:
    Ginevra,
    Not yet no, popular opinion on here is that it’s likely to be

    That’s what I think, too. I’ve attached the video in a response to Dee, but that video post is awaiting moderation. They don’t like it when you give too many links.

    Dee, if the video releases, be sure to watch at one-quarter speed by clicking the gear-wheel icon near the bottom of the video and selecting a speed of 0.25. And then go to just before 1:18 to see the super-brief scene.

  271. Dee Stark,

    Oh! Duh. Yes, that’s what I think, too. I’m not 100% certain, though. They could be Sparrows. They are dirty enough to be.

  272. Lulus Mum,

    would you be able to give a link or at least let me know where you saw this interview? i would dearly love to see it. i did not subscribe to this theory either but since last show it is becoming something to think about.
    the smirk on arys’a face when asked about where she got the money was not one she would make. totally out of character for her. but it would fit in perfectly for the character in question. and the shadow behind the waif also fits that same character.
    i am so curious at this moment. thanks.

  273. ash,

    Sorry, tried to edit and got cut off

    but to me basic human decency is something we are born with, it is not a modern concept, it’s always been there.

    I totally agree. I hope that as time goes on it will override our other tendenies that aren’t quite so decent.

  274. Lulus Mum:
    Dee Stark,
    Abort, abort, pull out now Dee,you don’t want to know what that is, believe me! From your friendly neighbourhood looker outer for people who don’t want to be spoiled ?

    I shouted, DON’T LOOK, ETHYL!!!!!! But it was too late.

  275. redxgod,
    Chad Brick,

    It was the cultural norm for for that time. Having said that, and given the prevalence of homosexuality in the Church and in the Courts in Medievel times, most people in the nobility just looked away. As long as they did not have to deal with an inconvienent truth, they did not. That’s been the position re Renly and Loras up until the revival of the Faith. In the books, where it is not so clear, as neither has POV chapters, Cersei knows but even in her most evil scheming to get rid of Margaery and to separate Loras from Margaery, she doesn’t use that. Instead he volunteers to take Dragonstone and goes all suicidal to do so. So everyone knows, but no one talks about it.

    It’s only when they had a need to find an enemy, either of the State or of the Church, to rally the people against did they take action against it. I’m sure there are many figures that the HS can be drawn from, but Savonarola in Florence is the one that comes most readily to mind, especially as the HS came to power at least in part due to the wordly excesses of the Faith and the forme High Septons. As far as the common people in Medievel times, I don’t know. I’m sure positions varied depending on how the authorities chose to pursue. It was a life fraught with danger as it was until modern times. I believe that Jefferson in a reform of the Virginia law codes was considered enlightened by changing the punishment from death to life imprisionment. So that’s where you were in the late 18th century in America.

    Even in the 1990’s I had friends fired from jobs because of it. I remember on case in Atlanta Georgia where the secretary of a SVP at a very large national bank saw one of my friends at a “gay” gym and he was fired (obtensively for other reasons) within the month. So it wasn’t that long ago that you still had risk attached to being gay.

    Now in the books, I do not believe that the sparrows have yet attacked anyone on the basis of homosexuality. Maybe none of the POVs thought it important enough to consider. They are much more evil IMO on the show. The writers have taken care to push all the right buttons for our 21st century minds. In the books, they deplore the profaning of the High Sept by Ned’s execution on the steps and deplore the Red Wedding.

    And given the evil that book!Cersei has wrought, the Walk of Shame is not as disproportionate as it appears on the show. Yes, they torture, one of the Kettlebacks who Cersei has slept with, discussed entrapping Margaery with, and had kill the former High Septon. And Cersei and Qyburn had done their share of torturing and Cersei had sent several people who disappointed her to Qyburn for experiments (Qyburn is more evil in the books. More of a Nazi Mengele than the eccentric we see on the show). Certainly that would become more militant in TWOW.

  276. In this photo, the Waif’s knife looks bloody and broken. And it is a different knife from the one she stabbed Arya with in E07.

  277. Chad Brick,

    On a more personal note, from the 1950’s, my grandfather threatened to throw my uncle out for exhibiting certain tendancies. My grandmother said that if my uncle went, she was going with him. And that was that. So even in that generation you had differing views. A mother’s love for a child can overcome a lot.

  278. Lulus Mum:
    ghost of winterfell,Ser Not Appearing in this Series,
    I’m not a fantasy fan so the whole faceless men thing doesn’t appeal to me very much and to be honest I’ve found it rather dull so far. However the weirdness of that last Arya scene – including the could that possibly be who we think it is or is it an over used extra, and if it is them why on earth would they be there man in blue – and now that silhouette have left me baffled. Suddenly I want to know exactly what’s going on in Braavos whereas before I wouldn’t have missed it if I never saw it again. I’m glad it’s not just me whose going “huh???” at the moment ?

    I love fantasy! But I fear with Ser Olyvar, you are chasing a bird of the rouge variety. Or, as the Spanish say, rojo. I love how they say it, too. I wish I could trill my Rs as well as my thirteen year-old: I’m so jelly. Perhaps herrings can trill their Rs, even the rojo ones who don masks of blonde and sky blue.

  279. ghost of winterfell,

    Characters die constantly im the series doing the right thing. It never comes up with Cercei or Jaime. Its always self preservation and control in every decision they make. I have yet to see any self conflict with what they have done and are doing. He is evil, just not as bad when compared to Cercei. He instinctively pushed Bran out the window. He didn’t, go think about it or anything that you’re saying. He just did it. That’s his impulse, their impulse.

  280. Ginevra,

    Hahahaha! Oh my gawd, my dad and I used to love that song, drove my mom crazy. And we had a streaker that year at my HS graduation. Ahhhh, good times….(for the young and curious, google Ray Stevens The Streak. Listen to some of his other songs from that time (warning, some are very un pc). Hes become rather old and cranky of late but those songs were gems . A forebearer to Weird Al

  281. The guy who played Syrio Forel was on Thronecast this week, and this is the season of returning characters. So anything is possible ?

  282. Team Arya:
    The title is No one and there isno pic of Arya!

    Kind of the point, isn’t it? Actually, they should have a people-free picture of the landscape of Braavos. That would be cool.

  283. Beer Island: Don’t know how much of a spoiler this is but I been thinking about the scene where Walder Frey is toasting. More than likely is after BF surrenders RR. I’m any case I have a strong feeling Arya offs him by poisoning everyone in that room. Its seems more logical for that to be episode 10 but for some reason I think it will be in 8. I don’t know how Arya ends up in westeros but I think she will be in the riverlands. Meaning the stuff with the waif was some crazy plot where someone else was posing as her or something of that nature. It seems far fetched but this show is known for things like that. I feel Arya left as soon as she retrieved needle and high tail out of Braavos. [\spoiler]

    The forgot to put “Arya apparates to Westeros” in the synopsis.

  284. The guy behind the Waif in the photo could very well be Arya with Syrio’s face, sneaking from behind to kill her !!!

  285. Dee Stark:
    ash,

    yeah, that’s an interesting point

    Lyanna is a special case…

    Lyanna’s scene was a mirror image of bran’s in season 1, except Bran’s was more realistic of how a child would behave hahaha

    I tend to believe that level of maturity is greatly affected by the level of responsibility given, not just age. In medieval times, teens who we consider children were married and raising children. Tweens were ruling kingdoms. A great deal of maturity depends on how much responsibility the child was raised to take on, and Ned has done a great job with Jon – and Bran. Maege obviously did a great job with Lyanna.

  286. Beer Island:
    Jack Bauer 24,

    Someone doesn’t have to die for their face to be used. Arya’s face was used last season

    Only if that’s the way the show changes it, and I’m not ready to say they are going that way because of one scene in which they wanted to infuse some weird in order to make Arya blind. The book FM are not able to morph into just anyone, they need to use the faces.

  287. Man the next episode will be so intense The mother of dragons returns to mereen with a huge army and sees how tyrion and varys are doing. Breinne will meet Jaime again in riverrun with negotiating with blackfish to help sansa or plan to stop jaime and the freys. Arya will face a new test and sees an old friend. Either way this will be an epic episode.

  288. I think we can mostly agree that the Waif’s shadowhunter is not Olyvar nor Olyvar’s doppelganger. Even though Olyvar is kinky, he does not have kinky hair: http://images.askmen.com/720×540/entertainment/better_look/best-chat-up-lines-from-game-of-thrones/10-1461340586.jpg.

    If the shadow really is Syrio, and admittedly that’s a mighty big “if,” then the leaked synopsis of most dubious origin is looking more and more genuine: “Arya is not alone.”

  289. Clob,

    I (think that I!) agree: Arya hallucinated seeing her face. Nobody died, either. It was just Arya’s fear projecting and guiding the hallucination.

  290. Beer Island,

    Hmm
    I think that scene with Arya in Mother’s Mercy was some sort of Magic Hallucination or something weird that “Jaquen” has the powers to do…

    I am not so sure that Arya has such ability. A little far fetched in my opinion.

    And as much as we would all love to see Syrio Forel, I really don’t think we will. And if he was killed in KL back in the day by Trant, theres no way his face will be in the HoF because I mean, you need to take the face to have it in inventory. Lol.

    But, that’s not to say that I still find it fishy how Jaquen even ended up a prisoner to begin with in season 2, coincidentally where Arya was.

  291. I love this fandom. We are one wacky bunch. Honestly, the amount of scrutiny each photo and video gets is nothing short of amazing.

    And either the creators of this show are trolling us (very possible) or that shadow is SYRIO FOREL!

  292. Beer Island:
    Jack Bauer 24,

    Someone doesn’t have to die for their face to be used. Arya’s face was used last season

    And then she went blind when we never saw her take the potion that was meant to make her blind. So the most likely explanation would be that everything from the point where the Waif held Arya’s mouth open until the end of that scene was a vision induced by the blinding potion after Arya took that potion.

    If she didn’t take the potion, how could she be blinded?

    If the Faceless Men don’t need the dead person’s face, first, why do they bother collecting the thousands of faces they have? Why do they bother giving the gift of mercy to those who come to the house to ask for it? Why is it so important for Arya to add a face to the Hall? Why do they go through all of the trouble of cleaning the bodies and removing the faces? Why is half of their work collecting the faces if the faces themselves are completely unnecessary?

    Granted, this could be one giant plot hole that the show has written itself into, but I truly hope not.

  293. Beer Island,

    Jaime did save Brienne from rape.
    And yes, it was an impulsive action that made Jaime push Bran, but that impulse may be triggered by a desire to protect his people. I am not saying he is selfless of course. He is selfish.
    The reason I find Jaime interesting is because he cannot be classified as either good or bad, my opinion.

  294. Darkrobin: I’m sure there are many figures that the HS can be drawn

    Really, it’s more of a basic human “type” on which the HS is based, which has risen again and again in human history. He is the “true believer.” With that almost always comes an unreasoning moral absolutism. But there also is a deep conviction that the gods want this person to do things, and that one god or another is putting ideas in the person’s head. As they gain success, they become more and more sure of it: after all, how could someone like the HS have risen so far without the help of gods?

    Insofar as there is “good” and “evil” in these stories, the HS pretty much is the most evil thing we’ve seen! And given GRRM’s background, that ought not surprise us: I’ve never known anybody raised Catholic who did not think that religion organizations like this were not the root of only wrong-doing! 😀

  295. Danny,

    To me redemption is about what you choose to DO next, after having done something awful. Not how sorry you feel about it.

    Jaime decided he would try to act honorably from now on after the trip south wih Brienne. He’d work to fulfill his oath in the only way he was able (Oathkeeper). He’d protect his son and sister from their enemies (Hugh sparrow confrontations) and do his duty to the King (advising Tommen, trying to remove the Sparrow). He would try to use peaceful means when possible (Riverrun), and rescue those who are unjustly captured (Tyrion, Myrcella, Margaery/Loras). So far those two things havnt come into conflict and if they do again I think he will continue to follow the more heroic choice.

    Theon was tortured a lot, to the point he now feels bad for what he did. How is that Redemption? Theon didn’t have any remorse things went south for him. And his actions so far are basically just others (Sansa, Yara) bullying him into doing something useful. He doesn’t have any desire to live honorably or do good works. He’s just… Broken.

    You’re right of course that they are different but I’ll take Jaimes arc any day.

  296. I was kinda against the stage acting theory behind Arya getting stabbed because that was a brutal stab that i have a hard time believe could be replicated in a way that would seem believable. But the images of Arya bleeding through the streets and then the one from the trailer with a bloody hand leaving a trail into the darkness makes me think there may in fact be some strategic planning by Arya. Blood sack and pig flesh under her clothes, idk it still seams like a stretch to me, besides these are different clothes than what she got stabbed in.

    http://watchersonthewall.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/GoT75Arya.png

  297. Jaynee D.,
    Sure, he was on Thronecast which is the programme that accompanies GoT on Sky Atlantic in the UK (we don’t get HBO here). I only skimmed through the show but now I’m going to go back and listen to what he’s saying very carefully. I’ll report back when I’ve had a chance to see it. Sky sometimes put episodes of it on You Tube but not always, it seems to be rather random. This guy has uploaded the previous 4 so he might do this one too? Watch this space…. 🙂

  298. Wimsey:
    Insofar as there is “good” and “evil” in these stories, the HS pretty much is the most evil thing we’ve seen!And given GRRM’s background, that ought not surprise us: I’ve never known anybody raised Catholic who did not think that religion organizations like this were not the root of only wrong-doing!?

    The HS is evil, yes, but more evil than Joffrey? More evil than Ramsay? You’d rather be Ramsay’s prisoner than the High Sparrow’s? You’d rather have your cock chopped off, your fingers chopped off, and be made to watch the rape of innocent little girls than streak through the streets of King’s Landing?

    And every person you know who was raised Catholic is no longer Catholic?

  299. Ginevra,

    I tend to believe that level of maturity is greatly affected by the level of responsibility given, not just age. In medieval times, teens who we consider children were married and raising children. Tweens were ruling kingdoms

    That is true. But based on current brain development research, even if they were given the responsibility doesn’t mean they were nec able to make adult decisions.

  300. ghost of winterfell: The reason I find Jaime interesting is because he cannot be classified as either good or bad, my opinion.

    That really is true for all of the main characters. They are all people trying to sort themselves out.

  301. Wimsey,

    Thats what I remember as well.

    Beer Island,

    I

    ts one thing to like a character, like some people love in with LF.

    This. In any story, my favorite character is often then one that is not black/white, or one I relate to and want to have an ale with. Its one who fascinates me, has motive and complexity that makes me want to know more about him. Its why I like Theon – I love watching the way he has developed. Jaime, while he had his moments where I saw some of that, not so much. I didn’t think he’d stray far from his own self interest, even tho he has a few times.

  302. Ginevra: And every person you know who was raised Catholic is no longer Catholic?

    No, I do not know any Catholics. Or perhaps it would be more correct to state that nobody I know well enough that I would know these things about them is Catholic. (Almost nobody I know well is religious: and all of those that are are either Buddhists or cultural Jews.) For example, I’m sure that some of my son’s classmates are in Catholic families, or that some of my neighbors are or stuff like that. From a purely probabilistic perspective, that almost has to be the case.

    The HS is evil, yes, but more evil than Joffrey? More evil than Ramsay? You’d rather be Ramsay’s prisoner than the High Sparrow’s?

    Those are two different questions! Joffery was a sociopath. Ramsay is a psychopath. However, the HS is what he is by choice, or at least that seems to be the case.

    And giving someone the choice between being a prisoner of a sociopath, a psychopath and a religious fanatic is being asked to choose your torturer!

  303. Lulus Mum,

    thank you so much! now i’m off to search for a viewing of it somewhere/anywhere. living in arizona i don’t get thronecast here. thanks again.

  304. Ginevra,

    Yeah, I’d take being the High Sparrow’s prisoner over Ramsay’s every day of the week, and twice on Sunday. Not happily – but I’d take it, and it’s not a contest. So far as we have seen, they don’t even do physical torture – whereas Ramsay removes body parts just to get warmed up.

    The High Sparrow has got to go, but he has *some* redeeming qualities. Whereas Ramsay has none. Unless you count being able to lead 20 good men to destroy some food supplies in a snowstorm as a redeeming quality.

    People are bringing too much personal or ideological baggage into all this.

  305. Dee Stark:
    Ginevra,

    Thank you!

    SO CUROIUS what that is.

    You’re welcome. In 17 days, we will know everything! Well, not everything. But everything from the trailers, I hope.

  306. Wimsey,

    I would say all Starks are on the good side,even though yeah, they all have some weakness which they try to overcome, they are the good guys. The only one who may be a bit difficult to classify is Arya.
    Tyrion and Dany have done some questionable stuff, I agree, even though I would say they are more good than bad.

  307. Ginevra: I tend to believe that level of maturity is greatly affected by the level of responsibility given, not just age. In medieval times, teens who we consider children were married and raising children.

    Yes, the idea of “adolescence” is a very new one. You were old enough to breed or you were not. (Or you were too old, if you were an older woman.)

    Athelstane: People are bringing too much personal or ideological baggage into all this.

    I don’t think it’s that: it’s more the danger of comparing apples and oranges! One thing that this series does have is a lot of really damaged people (like Ramsay and Joffery) who are literally and figurative “sick.” You probably can count Stannis on that list, too, although I am not sure how one would describe his disorder. (It might be a type of sociopathy: his total lack of empathy would be consistent with that.)

    But you also have Tywin’s and High Sparrow’s who choose to do really awful things because they buy into morality systems that stress that these are good things. But this also one of the things that makes Thrones so different from most “epic” fantasy: “evil” is not a real thing in and of itself, but a label that you use for things that one dislikes. And the people who do some of the worst things do them because they are convinced that they are “right” things to do.

    (The White Walkers are yet a different spin on this: they are an “evil” created to fight another “evil” and to save good things: and I find it really funny that the initial “evil” was humanity!)

  308. Ginevra,
    …..She’d already been mooned. Flashed her right there in front of the shock absorbers ? tbh I think Throros needs more than a choker and some makeup to look as good as some of the ladies.

    The Olyvar thing is because of this post from Halfman. In case that link only goes the thread rather than HM’s post, look for the one at June 8, 2016 at 6:09 am. We both thought it was very unlikely to be him but now I’ve gone back and watched on an HD tv there is a striking similarity in build, height, hair and that blue top, which is quite different in style to most of the Braavosi men. I have no idea what’s going on there, the more we find out about it the stranger it seems to get!
  309. ghost of winterfell: I would say all Starks are on the good side,even though yeah, they all have some weakness which they try to overcome, they are the good guys. The only one who may be a bit difficult to classify is Arya.

    There is a difference. The Starks tend to be ethical people, at least insofar as they do not look to profit off of others. But they still can let belief cloud their judgements. Ned provided a good example of that: because of his devotion to primogeniture, he was determined to put Stannis on the throne despite the fact that it had to be obvious that Stannis’ utter “soullessness” (for lack of a better word) would have made him an appallingly awful king.

    But they also get stuck in situations where doing one “right” thing means doing another “wrong” thing. Ned ultimately dies because he’s stuck between “primogeniture!” and “family first!”

  310. Jaynee D.,
    You’re welcome! Good luck in your search and I’ll bring my laptop home so I can do a transcript if you can’t find it online. I’ll be setting off shortly so may be able to post something later tonight (I think we must be about 7 or so hours ahead of you in AZ? I’m off in search of some dinner now) 😀

  311. ash,
    Here he comes, boogie-dy, boogie-dy, There he goes, boogie-dy, boogie-dy…..Flashing is probably a lot more practical in a warm place like Arizona. I spent a couple of days there in late September once and it was like being in an oven (Scottsdale/Pheonix area). Mind you, sunburn on sensitive body parts wouldn’t be fun, so anything more than a quick exposure wouldn’t be good for any of the parties involved 🙁

  312. Wimsey:

    Those are two different questions! Joffery was a sociopath. Ramsay is a psychopath.However, the HS is what he is by choice, or at least that seems to be the case.

    And giving someone the choice between being a prisoner of a sociopath, a psychopath and a religious fanatic is being asked to choose your torturer!

    That was about ten different questions, yes, but they are all closely related to each other.

    How evil a person is should be determined based on actions and intent rather than which nutdom they hark from. People should not be judged by the color of their skin, by the symbol of their god, or by the label from their shrink, but by the content of their character.

  313. Chad Brick,

    Um, I would say their methods of torture and imprisonment, the violence with they patrol the streets, the walk of shame – those are extreme by most standards.

  314. Dee Stark:
    Ginevra,

    17?? so you think we will see everything from the trailers by end of ep09

    I’m a mathematician, but I really suck at arithmetic and counting. So please correct me if I’m wrong. We have:

    Episode 8: No One = 3 Days
    Episode 9: Battle of the Bastards = 3 + 7 = 10 Days
    Episode 10: The Winds of Winter = 3 + 7 + 7 = 17 Days

    Right?

  315. Chad Brick: What makes them “evil”, other than their homophobia, which in such times was a cultural norm? It is also for the most part a TV addition (as are almost all matters with respect to homosexuality on the show).

    As with Dany’s crucifixions and burnings, I am a bit hesitant to simply slap the “evil” label on someone who is simply acting as a normal member of their culture would in their position. Or more generally, I think it is a mistake to judge the actions of fictional characters via the lens of modern sensibility. Most Americans were strongly homophobic a mere generation ago. Does that make my grandparents evil?

    Just catching up so I haven’t read any responses to your post yet.

    What makes them evil is they were quite happy to go slaughtering in a brothel they raided and castrating if I remember rightly, so no they aren’t the benevolent good guys. Torture and beatings are also their preferred choice of getting what they want.

  316. LeBron Martell:
    Halfman,

    That looks an awful lot like the shadow of Syrio Forell behind The Waif …

    It does and I’m half minded to wonder if it is given I watched the Syrio actor on Thronecast in the UK. I always watch it straight after the uk main broadcast even though I record and watch the earlier broadcast.

  317. Halfman: It does and I’m half minded to wonder if it is given I watched the Syrio actor on Thronecast in the UK. I always watch it straight after the uk main broadcast even though I record and watch the earlier broadcast.

    So Syrio was on Thronecast this week?!!!! I read Lulu’s post, but I couldn’t tell if she was talking about Syrio or the Waif. If Syrio, then that is a huuuuuuuge indicator that we know who the shadow is.

  318. I registered to say about the shadow and Syrio! So glad I am not the only one 😀

  319. Ginevra,

    Okay, I posted this in another thread:

    Bryan Cogman offered an explanation for some of the time-jumping to Entertainment Weekly:

    The timelines between the various storylines don’t necessarily line up within a given episode. For instance, the ‘Northern Tour’ Jon and Sansa embark on would probably take a couple weeks, but Arya’s storyline over the past few episodes only spans a few days. We realized a while ago that if we tied ourselves in knots trying to make all the ‘story days’ line up between all the characters the momentum would suffer.

    I’m not saying that explains everything, but it does raise another question.

    If time on Westeros (and the Riverlands) is not in sync with the time in Braavos, could Arya be in Braavos on Braavosi time (where only a few days have passed) but then be in Westeros on Westerosi time (where weeks have passed)?

    For all we know, she’s already at the Twins. The Braavos arc could have happened weeks ago Westerosi time 🙂

  320. Wimsey,

    I’m sure the FM could have access to a few types of mushrooms which could make you see many things, if such things exist on Essos.

  321. Shawn,

    Shadow? Do you mean the person behind her who is walking in the opposite direction? Read the thread, several people are already discussing the Syrio thing.

    Personally, I think it’s a big reach.

  322. Dee Stark,

    I will say this. IF he was killed in KL (I really don’t think Meryn F-ing Trant could do it) then he could absolutely be in the inventory. You said it yourself. Who was also in KL and then in a cage headed to the Wall with Arya?
    Jaqen.
    Also the first time you see Rorge, Biter and Jaqen in that cage when Arya gets bullied by Hot Pie? You can’t see Jaqen at all. Not even his hair. He’s wearing a big hood and is kind of slumped over. He could be anyone at that point.

    I think there’s more going on with Arya and the FM story then there seems-and I’ve always wondered where Ned found her dancing master in the first place-and why a first sword of Braavos would spend every day training only the youngest daughter of the Hand to fight.
    Jaqen also showed an unusual interest in her from the beginning. It feels like there’s a reason for that.

    I’m hoping we get some good info next episode. And I’d love a Syrio callback. Even if it’s just his face or that familiar phrase-What do we say to the god of death? Wait until Sunday 🙂

  323. RG,

    I agree with everything you said. Except the fact that Syrio was killed and Jaquen took his face. I feel like the hall of faces is made up faces that were killed by the faceless men, whether it be an assassination (like Arya’s previous tasks) or some of those terrible drinking from the fountain “Mercy” deaths.

    I don’t see why Jaquen would go to take Syrio’s face

    There is more to all this. Its all been fishy since day 1.

  324. Sue the Fury,

    It’s the season for reaching 🙂 All the people we never actually saw die and who felt important to the story are coming back right now-and one we did ie Jon.
    Sandor, Blackfish, Benjen
    The Mountain walking around undead and creepy.
    Riverlands BWB story set up to troll everyone for LSH (though we did see her die)
    All that’s missing is our blacksmith rowing machine, Gendry.
    And Syrio.
    Basically, best season ever. 🙂

  325. Dee Stark,

    In the books at least, I don’t think they necessarily need the face.

    when Jacqen turned into someone who looked remarkably like the Alchemist, who then likely murdered Pate and took Pate’s place, just having Pate’s face (which he removed at some lodge in Oldtown?) wouldn’t make him totally appear to be Pate. It must be like Mel and Mance and Rattleshirt, maybe the FM also can take certain items and then weave a magical spell around them to appear totally as another. Remember Mel “singing” the word – that Mance and Jon heard a different word and it wasn’t the word Mel sang – that turned off the glamour

    Of course, you could argue that we haven’t been given any indication in the books. I know they both were wearing loose robes, but the original doorman at THoBW was a different actor than Jacqen so their shapes must have been somewhat different. So we’ve seen it, if they choose to go that route. The faces are props and perhaps necessary for acolytes but not for the experienced perhaps.

  326. Ginevra: So Syrio was on Thronecast this week?!!!!I read Lulu’s post, but I couldn’t tell if she was talking about Syrio or the Waif.If Syrio, then that is a huuuuuuuge indicator that we know who the shadow is.

    Yes it was this week. And yes it was Syrio but whether it means much, don’t ask me lol

    http://bit.ly/1UEAoBx

  327. Beer Island,

    What if the picture with the waif staring out over yonder is actually her staring at the boat that Arya has hopped on in her escape?

  328. Okay so I’m gonna go for my first ever full-on tin foil completely bonkers theory (as opposed to my usual rubbishly wide of the mark guessing). Having gone back and looked at the audience when Arya watches the first part of the play we get to see the strange acting guy in blue from the front. Can’t say for definite that is it is or isn’t

    Olyvar. I’d say on balance it’s not but they are certainly very similar looking and we seem to get close ups of a lot of the people standing quite close to him, but not blue guy himself. IF and I stress IF it is him, the obvious question is what the hell is he doing there? Then I remembered what he was doing when we very first met him – spying for Littlefinger. IF LF has somehow heard or found out that Arya is in Braavos he’d be bound to want to use this info to his advantage. Hmmm who does he know with (presumably) good spying skills who is in danger if they stay in KL, Arya doesn’t know and the audience would recognise, who he could send on a reccy to establish if it is her or not? I’ve also read a completely unsubstantiated spoiler – so a lot of you spoiler readers will want to look away now that says………………..at some point in these last few episodes LF tells Jon he has some very important news for him.

    Obviously now I’ve suggested this it is 4,000,000,000,000% guaranteed that it couldn’t conceivably be any further from what’s actually going on. So now you know what definitely DOESN’T happen! 😀

  329. Maggie,

    I’m waiting for the truth about Littlefinger to come out…..who will it be found out? That HE is the one who caused everything to spiral downward, from day one book one episode 1. He is behind so much of the tragedy that has befallen the Starks.

    Who will kill him? He needs to pay for his sins…..he is the true evil. remember what he said to Sansa: “I want EVERYTHING.”. I hope is death is brutal and beautiful.

  330. Can I just say that Brienne looks absolutely majectic and rather gorgeous in that 1st image of her. GO BRI

  331. Jon is a bastard, and even if turns out to be rhaegars legitimiate son, no one will ever know besides bran. The only thing Jon can hope for is Robbs will to make him heir of Winterfell. Jon Stark, lord of winterfell.

    Howland Reed may well know. He was at the ToJ with Ned and Ned must have given him some explanation for who the father of his now dead sister’s infant child wass and why it must be Westeros’s most closely guarded secret. No coincidence that Howland Reed’s daughter is Bran’s protector either.

  332. Queenofthrones,

    It was misfortune that gage Jaime any hint of remorse. Losing his fighting hand. And yeah he may not have blood lust Cercei, he has proves time and time again in his words on the show “we are the only two people who matter” and ” I will kill every Tully to get back to Cercei”. That is and always been him, deep down.

  333. Dee Stark,

    Well I’m just thinking and probably adding 2+2 and getting 5, but IMA kinda confident Arya offs Walder Frey in that scene where he’s toasting. I know he’s toasting to the seige being lifted which happens in 8. And let’s not forget one of Arya’s truth, that she is in more scenes than you think. Unless it all happens in 10

  334. Darkrobin:
    Chad Brick,

    On a more personal note, from the 1950’s, my grandfather threatened to throw my uncle out for exhibiting certain tendancies.My grandmother said that if my uncle went, she was going with him.And that was that.So even in that generation you had differing views.A mother’s love for a child can overcome a lot.

    And I can point you today to plenty of people that are kind, generous, and as sweet as can be…except for this or that group that they don’t like, because Paul wrote stupid crap nearly 2000 years ago, and just about everyone they have spent their long lives with doesn’t approve of these people, either. Whatever word you use to describe these people, “evil” is not remotely appropriate.

    In any case, Show!Sparrows are much much worse than Book!Sparrows. As has been too often the case, the show has made things more black and white than the books.

  335. Dee Stark,

    Well I’m just thinking and probably adding 2+2 and getting 5, but IMA kinda confident Arya offs Walder Frey in that scene where he’s toasting. I know he’s toasting to the seige being lifted which happens in 8. And let’s not forget one of Arya’s truth, that she is in more scenes than you think. Unless it all happens in 10
    Lisa Wolf Lover,

    LF needs two horses pulling his limbs in opposite directions. Real scum.

  336. Darkrobin:
    Ginevra,

    Okay, I posted this in another thread:

    Bryan Cogman offered an explanation for some of the time-jumping to Entertainment Weekly:


    The timelines between the various storylines don’t necessarily line up within a given episode. For instance, the ‘Northern Tour’ Jon and Sansa embark on would probably take a couple weeks, but Arya’s storyline over the past few episodes only spans a few days. We realized a while ago that if we tied ourselves in knots trying to make all the ‘story days’ line up between all the characters the momentum would suffer.

    I’m not saying that explains everything, but it does raise another question.

    If time on Westeros (and the Riverlands) is not in sync with the time in Braavos, could Arya be in Braavos on Braavosi time (where only a few days have passed) but then be in Westeros on Westerosi time (where weeks have passed)?

    For all we know, she’s already at the Twins.The Braavos arc could have happened weeks ago Westerosi time?

    I see what you’re saying, but that’s not quite what Bryan is saying. If Arya shows up in the Riverlands, then the Riverlands becomes Arya’s storyline. So it would be the time lapsing within the same storyline rather than the time lapsing between two separate storylines, which is what Bryan is talking about.

    They might have weeks pass between two consecutive episodes for some storylines while only days or hours or minutes pass between those same episodes for other storylines, which is what Bryan is saying, but they’ve never had weeks pass in a single episode for one storyline.

    Littlefinger has never been in the south at the beginning of the episode and in the north at the end. No one has ever been in Essos at the beginning of an episode and in Wessos at the end, or vice-versa, and I believe last this season’s two-week trek from the Iron Islands to Volantis in the span of two episodes set the jetpack record for the entire show. To be cross an entire sea, even a narrow one, within one episode would feel so very bad.

  337. Ginevra,

    but they’ve never had weeks pass in a single episode for one storyline.

    He just said they did for Sansa and Jon’s recruiting trip across the north in this past episode:

    The timelines between the various storylines don’t necessarily line up within a given episode. For instance, the ‘Northern Tour’ Jon and Sansa embark on would probably take a couple weeks,

    I was poking fun at the whole time line arguments. Once you explain how LF travels, then you open other issues. I don’t believe Arya is in both places. Essentially what he is saying IMO is that they really do not consider timelines when deciding what episodes scenes go into. It’s much ado about nothing. The timelines are what the writers say the timelines are. After all we are dealing with a world where seasons last years. Didn’t mean to be taken so seriously. 🙂

  338. Halfman: Yes it was this week. And yes it was Syrio but whether it means much, don’t ask me lol

    http://bit.ly/1UEAoBx

    Sue the Fury:
    Shawn,

    Shadow? Do you mean the person behind her who is walking in the opposite direction? Read the thread, several people are already discussing the Syrio thing.

    Personally, I think it’s a big reach.

    If it were just his shadow, I would only be joking about the uncanny resemblance. But he was also on Thronecast this week! Yes, I know. Two coincidences don’t make a solid theory. But they make a weak one. And not many dudes have hair like that.

  339. So I watched the Miltos Yeromelou (Syrio Forel) interview on Thronecast. The little clip Halfman linked to above is the only bit where he’s really talking about Syrio, the rest of it is discussing ep7, return of the Hound etc. There was one bit which made me laugh that I’m sure is just a coincidental choice of words and doesn’t indicate anything suspicious. After they showed the ep8 preview the last thing we see is (covering just in case anyone hasn’t watched the trailer although that seems unlikely if they are reading these posts)

    The Mountain attacking a Sparrow on the ground and apparently going for his head

    When discussing that shot Miltos says “Someone’s face is coming off” haha, tin foil at the ready! 😀

  340. worfwworfington,

    Agree with most here. When has HS ever mentioned any Trial by Combat? It doesn’t fit with a bloke who is, to all intents and purposes, outwardly a pacifist. That’s proving Cersei’s not being advised correctly on matters concerning Faith Law. She thinks it’s all just like other courts. HS has mentioned a ‘court’ of 7 septons.
    It’s a bit like chinese whispers. “Send three & four pence, we’re going to a dance.” That originated as “Send reinforcements, we’re going to advance”.

    Why would Sandor rush to KL? How the hell does HS know he exists? CleganeBowl ain’t been going to happen as soon as some theorise or wishful think. Next season? It may not be the bowl they expect. GRRM likes to throw in twists.

    What I think will happen? Cersei won’t like being out-maneuvered. We know what she’s like when things don’t swing in her favour.
    Events at Riverrun may parallel KL. Jaime won’t like being made to look a fool by anyone. It’ll be a combination of demands from Cersei and cunning play by Blackfish that nullifies any plans Jaime has. He’ll piss off back to KL. I predict Freys…… Bronn’s indicated what could’ve happened to them.

  341. Even if Syrio truly did die in the books I can still totally see D&D changing things up. They’ve already made the Kindly Man change to “Jaqen.” I’d be surprised but not surprised if they make he and Syrio appear as being the same person. Perhaps they didn’t initially plan on it but as they went along in writing the series it just worked out as something cool they could do. They certainly left it open to be very possible. I just now rewatched the last Syrio scene for the first time in forever. I’d forgotten how much fighting noise happened after Arya ran down the corridor. There was a lot considering only those two seemed in a condition to fight. Syrio could have escaped, could have been detained, but either way Jaqen enters the series shortly after in KL.

  342. Someone pointed out some guy in blue with blonde hair in the back ground of a number of scenes involving arya and speculated that it’s loras’s gay boyfriend . I just noticed that the guy in the shadows behind the waif in the pic above has the same shoulder pads as the guy in blue in the other scenes. So my question is this…could (I think his name is olyvar) be a faceless man and could the faceless men get paid to do other stuff besides just assassinating ppl such as, framing ppl in high places? And why is this guy following arya around and the waif if it is him? It makes me think that the faceless men have a lot more to do with the game of thrones than anyone realises.
    I can’t wait for Sunday …this stuff if making my head hurt

  343. Darkrobin:
    Ginevra,

    but they’ve never had weeks pass in a single episode for one storyline.

    He just said they did for Sansa and Jon’s recruiting trip across the north in this past episode:

    The timelines between the various storylines don’t necessarily line up within a given episode. For instance, the ‘Northern Tour’ Jon and Sansa embark on would probably take a couple weeks,

    I was poking fun at the whole time line arguments.Once you explain how LF travels, then you open other issues.I don’t believe Arya is in both places.Essentially what he is saying IMO is that they really do not consider timelines when deciding what episodes scenes go into.It’s much ado about nothing.The timelines are what the writers say the timelines are.After all we are dealing with a world where seasons last years.Didn’t mean to be taken so seriously.?

    Ah! Of course. Thanks for clarifying. I did miss that quote. Deepwood Motte and Bear Island are about as close as major castles can be within the north, and we have seen Melisandre gallivant across a wide berth of the north, as well. Braavos to the Twins is like six times the distance between Prince GrumpyGlovers and Princess BabyBear.

  344. I wrote a really nice response to you, Darkrobin, but I seem to have been banned. Again.

  345. Dee Stark,

    But, that’s not to say that I still find it fishy how Jaquen even ended up a prisoner to begin with in season 2, coincidentally where Arya was.

    This!!! I’ve been stewing about this for years! If Jaqen is such a powerful FM he was only a prisoner by choice! And too much of a coincidence for Syrio not to be somehow a part of the HoBW story. His “what do we say to the God of death?” and Arya telling the BwB there is only one God-death. All the intervention from Jaqen. The story payoff has to be huge!

    I’ve only been in forums a couple of years-was any explanation ever given for how powerful Jaqen could be a prisoner??

  346. SaveTheWolves:
    Dee Stark,

    This!!! I’ve been stewing about this for years! If Jaqen is such a powerful FM he was only a prisoner by choice! And too much of a coincidence for Syrio not to be somehow a part of the HoBW story. His “what do we say to the God of death?” and Arya telling the BwB there is only one God-death. All the intervention from Jaqen. The story payoff has to be huge!

    I’ve only been in forums a couple of years-was any explanation ever given for how powerful Jaqen could be a prisoner??

    I usually don’t engage in the “conspiracy theories” but damn me if that person behind the Waif doesn’t look like Syrio…

    And yea, I know Syrio is NOT going to be Jaqen in the books, but…

    Coldhands is not going to be Benjen in the books either, and D&D nevertheless went there…so I don’t see why they couldn’t make Jaqen=Syrio in the show as a way of unifying Arya’s storyline…

  347. Beer Island,

    Really? Because I would say that those who hate him (and I don’t mean those who are “meh” or conflicted – I mean those who find no redeeming characteristics whatsoever in him or his storyline) are being willfully blind as to what his story actually is.

  348. ATrueFool,

    In the books there is magic involved in changing faces and YES, the FM wearing the face takes on all the physical characteristics of the dead person whose face they’re wearing (height, weight, etc.) They haven’t addressed that in the show. I’m not sure how the show could communicate that magic is being done. Maybe too hard to do, so they didn’t bother.

  349. RG,

    I think there’s more going on with Arya and the FM story then there seems-and I’ve always wondered where Ned found her dancing master in the first place-and why a first sword of Braavos would spend every day training only the youngest daughter of the Hand to fight.Jaqen also showed an unusual interest in her from the beginning. It feels like there’s a reason for that.

    I think the dancing master did it because Ned was paying and he (Ned) knew that Sansa had no interest (and at the time Ned didn’t think there was a self defense issue in all this; thought Kings Landing perfectly safe….) Re Jaqen, I wondered about that too. Did we ever find out why he was caged in the first place?

  350. Chad,

    Except in the case of Cersei and Tyrion – they were much much darker (or in Cerseis case much madder)

    Darkrobin,

    wow, Ive read the books a couple of times and dont’ remember that much detail about the FM! Can you tell me where I’d find that? (or was that from one of the history and lore videos? Thans

  351. Ginevra,

    Got the response. I didn’t take the original comment poorly. Sometimes it’s hard for me to indicate when I’m serious and when I’m poking fun (at the whole LF thing) on-line. Yes, I agree that there are some time line issues but when you have variable time periods within episodes and within storylines, it’s hard to really know. After all the Ironborn were on their fastest ships. 🙂

    Such things used to bother me more than they do now.

  352. ash,

    Part is Arya’s chapters in AFFC. This is where you have some discussion of how the FM change faces.

    Other is supposition, some mine, some borrowed from others,

    regarding the description when Jacqen changes his face to Arya, and then the descrption of the Alchemist who appears in the prologue? of AFFC and then at the end when the Alchemist perhaps/likely kills Pate for the key to the Citidel he stole from one of the archmaesters. Then at the very end, Pate reappears as if nothing happened. So the guess is that Jacqen, if he was the Alchemist, took Pate’s appearance. And the rest is in Mel or Jon’s chapter in ADWD regarding Mance and how she glamoured Rattleshirt to look like Mance and vice versa.

    As someone said, Mel’s magic is fire/blood magic and the FM were born in the mines of Valyria so if they have magic it is likely fireblood magic as well.

  353. Ginevra,

    But … when Arya is walking among the people after she is stabbed … she looks like a frighten little girl, not way it was Syrio Forell … He would walk like a boss.

  354. I think it’s worth remembering just how visible the filming of that scene was. Lots of other men of Braavos around, no Syrio. We have several posts about it:

    http://watchersonthewall.com/braavos-action-and-soldiers-from-an-unexpected-house-spotted-more-new-casting-and-deobia-oparei-on-season-6/

    http://watchersonthewall.com/maisie-williams-and-faye-marsay-film-action-sequence-in-girona/

    http://watchersonthewall.com/day-1-of-filming-in-girona-and-filming-in-ballintoy-continues/

    And this other website has even more photos of the scene Arya and the Waif shot in an alley, with the knife:

    https://lesradesgrises.com/2015/09/06/arya-de-girona/

  355. worfwworfington,

    Sexy Jesus wouldn’t heal her if that was truly Arya. Or maybe he will, and then smack her at the back of her head and say, “A girl has learned nothing!”

  356. kit_hepburn,

    I didn’t say there is no redeeming quality. Almost all the characters have that, even Cercei. I said they are liking him for something that he’s not. Trying to paint him as becoming a good guy or something when he’s never been that. He was smug from the beginning, cut down a couple notches when he lost his hand and that’s about it.

  357. Varys learn magic at a young age .after he was thrown away from the one who cutt him he was left to die. At that moment a faceless man appered and offered the boy a mercy death ,Varys refused the faceless man,he wanted to live. the man then offers to train him says he can offer his list of names to the many face god ,same as Arya.
    So Varys is a faceless man who uses poison to kill people he makes gifts to the gods with. he uses poison because it was the way people killed people where he was born in Lys (free city of braavos). (Arya will use steal/dragonglass and animals as is the old gods ways)
    once Varys became a faceless man his new MFG rules stop him from killing the guy who cutt him . Varys end up leaving to go to westeros, away where he can find his way into the small council .here he trades whispers he learns being a faceless man. he is everywhere and no where . he keeps a few kids around to cover his real ways .
    quote from one of the little kids Qyburn talks to” he calls us his little birds” THAT kid is the same kid who hands danny other adviser not Jorah the letter about Jorah being a spy ….. how does that little kid get from Kings Landing to Mereen in X amount of time and back to KL ? he doesn’t varys takes that kids form .you screaming how could he if that little kid still alive !!? well where does it say they can only take the dead form ? all men must die yes ,all men must serve yes but it doesn’t say that they have to die before they serve…..u can serve in life and after death.
    when Varys talks to Oberyn in front of the Iron Throne he says ”When I see what desire does to people, what it’s done to this country, I am very glad to have no part in it. Besides, the absence of desire leaves one free to pursue other things ” Oberyn ask like what ?Varys looks at the Iron Throne .im guessing pursue for someone just . the confused look on Oberan face like how does he think people would ever let a eunuch sit on the throne ? lol .
    he really doesn’t want anyone to suffer (except the one who cut him, he probably use magic to hide from him or something) he wants what’s best for the realm . things people ask him about are like little contracts little prices depends on the info being given .eg sending a message overseas to have Daenerys killed , the price ended up being, he payed with his own life . this is because Jorah stop it(god intervention) .the wine merchant life got taken instead.the wine merchant was varys with a different face .because he died varys decided the price for the original contract is the kings own life.
    this is why he said i’m afraid those little birds have already flown to Ned when he ask to stop the death of Daennerys hit . contract is closed Robert’s in the other room paying right now lol.
    .assasins make up the price when they want,Cersei know this as she mention the price can be too high when someone mention about using them for something lol.
    he used poison to kill Joffery .the look on the Queen of thorns face when tyrion grabs the cup .She like shit , i wish i got the poison in there that would made tryion look like the killer . Her face again after the poison has taken effect is real shock ,she really thinks he is just choking rofl.
    Varys being no one he could turn the drink into poison at any time without even touching it .don’t underestamate the power of the mind or as Varys put it “power resides where man believe it to resides ,its a trick ,a shadow on the wall .

    at start of Joffrey wedding ,Bronn says to Tyrion only people who know shae on the boat is Bronn Varys and Tyrion. I think she is still alive over in pentos and faceless man acted like her and died in her place during the trial . i think Tywin made the contract to save Tyrion life . using a faceless man to act as shae and push Tyrion over the edge and call for a trial by combat. once he called for it tywin tells Oberyn that the mountain will be fighting as champion,which he knows he really wants to kill . So oberyn goes ask/tells Tyrion he will be his champion to get at the mountain lol. Now because Varys died being Shae ,Varys decides the price will be his own life rofl and tyrion gets to be the one to serve the bill HA HA HA HA HA HA.that’s so awesome. im guessing tywin thought price for saving tyrion would be cheap being a little man 2nd in line for what ever lannisters house has ….
    i’ll leave the rest quotes so you guys can enjoy re watching the show and see them in actions . (don’t do what i did and google varys quotes and get every conversation he said 🙁 resist and watch the show again these ar rewards for doing so please don’t )

  358. Mag:
    Ginevra,

    But … when Arya is walking among the people after she is stabbed … she looks like a frighten little girl, not way it was Syrio Forell … He would walk like a boss.

    Oh, I’m of a firm mind that Arya is Arya, even though she’s clearly playing a role during the last episode. I am also of the belief that a person must die before his or her face can be taken and worn since I think that’s the whole point to the Hall of Faces and mostly the point to the House of Black and White.

    I’m saying that Syrio looks like the shadow behind the Waif. Even that is a truly far-fetched possibility, as Sue keeps saying, but he definitely looks like Syrio.

  359. gamecreator,

    Padraig O’Donovan,

    The Children of the Forest created the Wights to repel the invasion of the

    First Men, prior to the arrival of the Andals and well before the first Targaryn conquest. It would be more likely that the NK was a Stark ancestor.
  360. Beer Island,

    I really hope she offs him this year
    Oh pleaseeee
    I wonder how she would do it with so many people around
    ( those she may resemble Jaqens smooth kills in season 2)
    How is she going to get from bravos to river lands this fast. And I don’t mean episode to episode fast I mean what will bring her there unless she remember wher they are exactly and heads straight there
    I don’t know

  361. Maggie: Jaime tries to be Tywin for a while, that’s his story!
    . He is the head of house Lannister now. The thing is how he will get Riverrun- in the books he does it in the smartest way.

    Jaime will have to marry someone and propagate Lannisters.

    In the books, I call how Jaime lifts the siege “Jaime doing senior management.”

  362. Evengen Sand,

    So much emphasis has been put on the properties of Stark blood and the blood of the First Men, that I wonder if Stark characteristics are essential to solving the WWs and bringing peace from the nature deities and beings.

  363. Ginevra:
    If it were just his shadow, I would only be joking about the uncanny resemblance.But he was also on Thronecast this week!Yes, I know.Two coincidences don’t make a solid theory.But they make a weak one.And not many dudes have hair like that.

    I would shit nickles if Syrio came back. I’m not getting my hopes up but wow, what a reveal. First Benjen, then Sandor, the Blackfish and boom, Syrio?! Wow. It would be magic.
    So let me just go with it that it is Syrio. Maybe it is him. Maybe he makes an appearance as a “vision” when Arya is recovering or hallucinating on the street? Would be a sweet vision to hear him say, “What do we say to the God of Death?”.

  364. Beer Island:
    kit_hepburn,

    I didn’t say there is no redeeming quality. I said they are liking him for something that he’s not. Trying to paint him as becoming a good guy or something when he’s never been that.

    I agree. Jaime can’t and won’t be redeemed. He was raised the firstborn son in the wealthiest family, received the best education, nutrition, health care available, was a talented student of knight skills, received a battlefield promotion at fifteen, then inducted into the Kingsguard at fifteen.

    He has shown himself to be an arrogant snob – reaching out to be snide and mocking to Jon, for example.

    His crippling and suffering forced him to redefine his identity, but it didn’t make him compassionate. While still feverish, he negotiated a treason with Roose.

    Now he is doing senior management Lannister business while still emotionally dependent on Circei. So far, no real redemption.

  365. Kells: wow, what a reveal. First Benjen, then Sandor, the Blackfish and boom, Syrio?! Wow.

    The gathering of the troops, generals and smiths needed to fight the WWs. Next up: Gendry, ready to smelt Valyrian steel.

  366. Marlana,

    I just think this is ignoring altogether the nuances of what happens in both the books and the show and also ignores what George RR Martin has said about him as well. He’s a redemption story. He’s said it outright. We can all agree to disagree I guess, but having that basic structure in mind is kind of important to not being completely and utterly blindsided by what’s probably going to happen these last two seasons.

  367. Jymion,

    Yeah, I reiterated that way up thread. I do not understand why people are jumping to Syrio when that is clearly the lad in blue from the other scenes that eagle-eyed people have recognized. He’s in the exact same clothes. It’s not Syrio. (Unless Syrio has the lad in blue’s face on.) It’s just clearly not Syrio but the lad in blue! What can you say?

    Plenty of speculation awaits there anyway.

  368. It’s not Syrio. And even if it was he is walking in the opposite direction. His back is to Waif. If you massage the brightness and contrast, you clearly see it’s his back. Syriolessly.

  369. Darkside: Howland Reed may well know. He was at the ToJ with Ned and Ned must have given him some explanation for who the father of his now dead sister’s infant child wass and why it must be Westeros’s most closely guarded secret. No coincidence that Howland Reed’s daughter is Bran’s protector either.

    Unless there were twins at the ToJ, and Ned and Howland each took one. Hmmm.

  370. Direwolf Lvr,

    If you play with the exposure, brightness, shadow reduction, etc. you will actually see that the shadow is wearing a vest type garment on top and it is maroon/brown in color. Same shoulders. Same everything.

    So, playing with the photo only makes me think more that it is Syrio.

    Just sayin’

  371. Marlana,

    Jamie might try to be redeem himself but ultimately Cersei will pull him back down tragically. He might help at RR, but Cersei will lose her mind in KL and be responsible for Tommen’s death in the process. Then she will do something bigger and more terrible. Ultimately Jamie will get dragged back down with her, and he will finally see how bad she is and he will not only cut ties with her, he just might be the one who is seen choking the life from her.

  372. Ginevra,

    it makes people believe in it ,so it becomes real .power resides where man believe it to resides.its a trick .a shadow on the wall .Varys is a faceless man taking contracts from those who rule

  373. Marlana,

    the starks job is same as most ,to get all 7 kingdoms under one ruling better if there under one god but there all the same .there needs to be justice ,it’s all the injustice that awoken the whites again, ever since more man came over and messed stuff up . the night king and his army had gone to rest after first men took old gods as there own and just and peaceful was the realm. till fools come .

  374. Thats not Syrio, lol…

    If it was, that would be way too fanservicey (already don’t love the whole benjen-coldhands thing… would’ve prefered benjen to stay missing/dead)

  375. Dee Stark,

    Yeah my premise of how she got there so fast was they play it as she left after episode 6. They have reved up playing fast and loose with time. It’s actually more likely she reaches the Twins in episode 10 in any case. I just have no explanation as to wtf she was doing last episode. Maybe we are giving D&D too much credit and they simply expect us to believe Arya is magically healed and was walking around nonchalant.

  376. That is not the Waifs shadow behind her. It doesn’t match her clothes or her hair.

  377. Waif/Mystery Man photo

    The man may not be Syrio, but it sure ain’t Olyvar! The body type and especially the skull shape are totally wrong for him. Compare:

    http://gameofthrones.wikia.com/wiki/Syrio_Forel
    http://gameofthrones.wikia.com/wiki/Olyvar

    Whoever it is, he is shorter than Waif–he is standing on the level above her. My take is that they had a conversation, and she didn’t like what he said. Then he climbed the steps behind her and walked away (or vice-versa). If so, he would have seen the bloody knife in her hand. This suggests that he is a FM.

    I *LUV* the discussion about whether Syrio is a FM and maybe even Jaqen in a shape-shifting disguise!!! The timelines match, and I’m convinced that since he’s No One, he can become Anyone.

    If Olyvar is in Bravos (good work, whoever spotted him!), it’s to spy for LF as usual. It is unlikely that he met Arya in KL, so he wouldn’t recognize her. EG he did not react when she bumped into him while bleeding. Even so, he may have reported Trant’s death to LF, who figured out that Arya dunnit. Maybe he is the only one in Westeros who knows her whereabouts.

    Meanwhile, someone in another thread noticed a man wearing a yellow shirt who appeared in several Bravos street scenes and suggested it might be Gendry….

  378. HBO you are brilliant. To drop that Waif picture in there without a single word and now you have everyone talking and speculating. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was just a production still and somebody in publicity saw it and thought to take advantage of an oddly coincidental silhouette. Now you have us all talking and salivating for Sunday.

  379. Clob: Even if Syrio truly did die in the books I can still totally see D&D changing things up.

    Maisie was quoted (as recently as this season, I believe) saying that she thought Syrio might be alive, too, and asked D&D about it, and they flat out said, “No, he’s dead.” So unless this is one of her trolls…

  380. The CGI in that Lannister army tents/ Riverrun shot looks a bit dodgy. CGI of the Lannister army tents in season 1, back when they had a lot less money, looked a lot more convincing. Proves that more money does not necessarily mean better VFX…

  381. Darkrobin: It appears that there is a continuity error if you are talking about the blond guy in the blue outfit who pivots around Arya as he passes her on the street. In the close up he nearly bumps into her and then passes her. Then on the wide shot immediately after he is behind her again walking towards her. Unless this another time loop, it seems like the close up should have followed the wide shot.

    I don’t think it’s a continuity error. He was walking toward her and bumped into her as he passed, and it looked very much like he was either picking her pocket (maybe saw her earlier with bags of coins), or he was giving her something secretly, or she was passing him a note. Then a few seconds later, after he was a bit behind her, he turned around (off camera) and started following her as seen at the very end of the scene.

    Passing her in one direction, prominently bumping into her, then turning around to follow her does not seem like random crowd extra behavior. It seems very deliberate. I’m not sure what’s up, but there’s definitely something up.

    He was also in the audience at the play in both Ep 5 and Ep 6. I suspect there is some sort of plot or scheme being hatched here. Maybe he hangs out in the audience and picks people’s pockets during the play. Maybe he’s in league with the actors, and shares the profits with them. Maybe he’s my friend Tagganaro.

  382. first do any of you think the Theon scene in last episode was only to play off the phantom c*ck joke , that he really could feel a phantom limb and it was making him freak out because it something Ramsay said ROFL that scene…..

  383. So Sansa writes a letter to Little Finger telling him to help the black fish .and sends Brienne with a note to Black fish saying Sansa is proud and misses him and want him to surrender and go to her.(decoy in case Jamie wants to read) Brienne tells Jamie if she can’t convince the Black Fish to surrender the castle she will fight for him . she goes into BF and tells him the knights of the vail will be coming to the rescue but will need BF men to attack at same time . Brienne then goes back out to Jamie and tells him she failed and will now help him kill them. but what she really gonna do is as soon is shit hits the fan she gonna kill Jamie . Bronn gonna grab Podrick and try use him as a shield between him and Brienne . i hope pod lives ,he had such a way with the ladies 🙂

  384. Beer Island:
    kit_hepburn,

    I didn’t say there is no redeeming quality. Almost all the characters have that, even Cercei. I said they are liking him for something that he’s not. Trying to paint him as becoming a good guy or something when he’s never been that. He was smug from the beginning, cut down a couple notches when he lost his hand and that’s about it.

    Nope, I don’t think people are saying Jaime is a good guy. But a lot of people can find good in him (and bad) and do not dismiss him just as an evil Lannister.
    Even without going into the books, on the show, he has saved Brienne from rape, he has saved Tyrion from being killed, after losing Joffrey, he tried to connect with his other two children.
    He is trying to redeem himself, but it has not been a straight redemption arc, he still has some way to go.

    But yeah, him being so love sick around Cersei is irritating me too and setting him back. And it looks like the show is heading him back into being an a-hole, based on the preview, which is a different direction from where he seems to be going in the books.

  385. Beer Island,

    True
    Hmm

    I’ve always wanted arya to avenge her family at the twins. She was there when it happened , and seeing grey wind get it, that scene is so sad

  386. Sue the Fury,

    Sue, the confirmation of a character not returning via filming spoilers should be considered spoiler info, no? Just as much as if they are…?

    Anyway if they are bringing Syrio back they could always put his scenes in the paint hall. I think every storyline practically has some scenes there, no?

  387. Rygritte:
    The guy behind Waif is too tall to be Miltos. This looks like the same guy in the picture below. However, the umbrella crew seem to be only hiding him.

    http://8840-presscdn-0-18.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/img_1277-630×473.jpg

    Wow! I initially thought it was the blonde dude but seeing the comparison photos on ingmur and this link made me curious enough to watch Miltos’ interview on Thronecast again. So when Sue mentions that Syrio has links with the FM he says yes then immediately corrects himself and backtracks. Which is fine, and he does that fairly convincingly, but the LOOK he shoots at Sue gives it away completely if you ask me. It’s like he’s thinking, “WTF… Spoiler alert, dude”! She even helps dig him out the hole she accidentally created.

    I know a lot of people think it’s just a random extra and a little far fetched to be Syrio (which it is), but these factors are really making me wonder.

    Could SF be a faceless man, who was indeed killed by Trant but that the face that Syrio was wearing is still available to the other FM?

    Arya has mentioned her swordmaster so if he’s “on the books” they’d know which face to pull off the shelf…

  388. Halfman,

    oh man, I think you cracked it….Arya in multiple outfits can only mean – multiple Aryas…..I don’t have a clue how that works, but you’re right, she is wearing different outfits in the same apparent chase scene….

  389. Darren Prebble:

    ,it’s all the injustice that awoken the whites again, ever since more man came over and messed stuff up.

    Interesting idea. Any connection to the red comet waking things up or changing some attribute of Planetos that impacts the sleeping WWs?

  390. Wun Too,

    I certainly agree that Cersei’s mental state and behavior will continue to pull Jamie away from redemption. If /when she dies, Jaime might grow toward compassionate behavior, and probably also marry and propagate the Lannister line.

    By the standards of Thrones, Jaime is already acting more kindly than usual, because he is offering the besieged generous terms. That’s generous by the standards ASoIaF.

  391. sam,

    In the synopsis it says “Bran learns a great deal” so hopefully we will be seeing some action from him this episode.

  392. Rygritte:
    Apollo,
    Also, if he’s just a random extra, why is he there getting directions with only the main cast in that pic?

    That dude has Afro like hair, just like Miltos. The blonde extra doesn’t… This is really driving me crazy.

    I recall Maisie mentioning also (possibly trolling), that we see her in the trailers more than we realise, indicating that she’s wearing another face, or is in disguise. So I’m wondering if there’s a connection to all of this?

    There has to be something to do with the acting troupe also- they spent a LOT of Arya’s screen time on these guys, so I’m guessing there’s some significant connection there.

    Aaaaaaarrrrggghh!!!

  393. It will be interesting to see Brienne and Jaime reunite. From the Episode 8 preview it seems Jaime may no longer have feelings for Brienne, as we hear him say he would kill every Tully to get back to Cersei. If this is the case, then Blackfish was right last week when he said Jaime was a disappointment. What a waste of a redemption arc, but that would certainly clear the way for the Tormund/Brienne romance to bloom. I have a feeling lots of characters are going to die in King’s Landing this week. Not only does it look like Lancel and a bunch of Sparrows will be decimated by the Mountain, but the newly released picture of Tommen on the throne with Kevan Lannister and Grand Maester Pycelle standing on either side of him makes me think that Kevan and Pycelle will be meeting their end as well in whatever happens in that throne room. Perhaps even Tommen will perish, which may lead Cersei to think “screw everyone”, and she’ll finally follow through on her promise to burn a city to the ground. Glad to see Tyrion is back next episode, I really missed him the past two weeks. However, I have a feeling whatever peace he may have achieved in Meereen will be short-lived. It just may be time to unleash the dragons, or at least I hope so. I am also excited to see what happens with Arya as there has been so much fan speculation regarding just who stabbed who, whether Arya’s injury was real, whether it was just another test for Arya an on and on. Sunday can’t come soon enough.

  394. Doesn’t that look like the shadow of Syrio Farel coming up behind the waif in the above picture????

  395. As soon as I saw that [one guy carrying a massive log], I went, that’s the Hound!

    As soon as I saw the three or four guys per log, I said, “if we see a log with one guy, we’ll know that’s the Hound.” And then I was like, “Holy shit! It’s the Hound!”

  396. The interesting thing is that if that is Syrio, then Meryn Trant shouldn’t have been on her list. Is that the lesson Arya needs to learn? That vengeance isn’t always justified? I think her storyline is going to run parallel to The Hound’s in a sense. Syrio, whether he’s Jaqen or not, may well be her Septon Ray. That could also mean his return is short-lived.

  397. good question .i hadn’t thought about the comet , because the white walkers had already woken and killed the 2 crows at the start of season one. i don’t think it had anything to do with waking them. i think that comet was either a sign for the dragon being reborn into the world like Osha said , or sign from gods to wake up the magic in everyone,that will do gods will. or sign gods wrath is coming. i can’t remember what other scene happen around that comet one it would be the best way to find out.actually because Daenery was reborn just before it could mean she is apart of Azor Ahai . i just quick read on wiki that the sword needs to go into a lover heart , makes me think 2 things 1 Jorah will stab daenery with a sword or 2 Jon will stab a lover with that sword Sams got .now Jon’s lover could be a few people. 1 he see wight Ygritte(mostly burnt) and stabs her turning the sword on fire , or 2 he ends up stabbing a family loved one Sansa might turn on him thanks to Little Finger evil ways saying half brother, and so he stabs her .or if lady stone heart comes he might have to put her down. or if Bran tells/show Daenerys her connection to Jon in a vision and she flies over to meet him Jon could stab her to make the sword. lol i like that one. but like i said i haven’t given any time to ponder on that .

  398. where the original picture of the shadow behind the waif , i only seen ones people edited to look like Stannis lol . 1 my theories of Arya and faceless men history is Ned saying he give his life for his daughters under his breath mil secs before he lost his head . and a faceless man accepted this contract and so Ned’s beheading was a sacrifice in eyes of gods . Varys was the faceless man standing close enough to hear Ned’s request and so Varys goes onto Syrio body who after Arya got away, gave himself up to Meryn Rant that bashed him up for punishment and threw him into a cell. A night watch guy went in cells and got them for the wall .this is how Syrio got into the wagon with the other two going with Arya to the wall.. so Jaqen is now using Syrio to help Arya .he says this one (Syrio )has the honor to be know as Jaqen H’ghar. Arya end up saving his life +2 he was with so Jaqen gives her the 3 hits . but still owe her for Ned’s deal . when Arya kills Meryn Trant Jaqen finally fills the contract with Ned and give his life for Arya . Syrio is still alive Jaqen let him go after they got out of the wagon ,so its possible alive Syrio is in Braavos and could see chance to pay Arya back himself .

  399. so i stumbled onto this text and i thought it Kinda sounds like Game of Thrones .
    The Hierophant: “He symbolizing all things that are righteous and sacred on the manifest side. As such, he is the channel of grace belonging to the world of institution as distinct from that of Nature, and he is the leader of salvation for the human race at large. He is the order and the head of the recognized hierarchy, which is the reflection of another and greater hierarchic order, but it may so happen that the pontiff forgets the significance of this, his symbolic state and acts as if he contained within his proper measures all that his sign signifies or his symbol seeks to shew forth. He is not, as it has been thought, philosophy — except on the theological side; he is not inspiration; and he is not religion; although he is a mode of its expression.”
    the Hierophant is represented with his right hand raised in what is known esoterically as the blessing or benediction, with two fingers pointing skyward and two pointing down, thus forming a bridge between Heaven and Earth reminiscent of that formed by the body of The Hanged Man. The Hierophant is thus a true “pontiff”, in that he is the builder of the bridge between deity and humanity. In his left hand he held a triple cross.
    the Hierophant is seen seated on a throne between two pillars symbolizing Law and Liberty or obedience and disobedience, according to different interpretations. He wears a triple crown, and the keys to Heaven are at his feet. he wears a red cape and a blue robe, in contrast to The Papess, who wears a blue cape and blue robe
    Queen Margery baby will sit on the Iron Throne , he wears a red cape and a blue robe(red for royal and blue for the faith ). he will be seated on a throne between two pillars symbolizing Law and Liberty or obedience and disobedience, according to different interpretations.( I guess standing on one side of him will be the high priest and a white walker on other lol.or better yet it will be Baby Sam ,brother to 99 white walkers) He wears a triple crown(King of men/gods/realm or king of the dead /living/gods), and the keys to Heaven are at his feet( those he rule over).

  400. Post-Stannis/Dany Connections?

    1) What happened to Stannis’ fleet after it delivered 2,000+ Wildings to CB? Will Dany use those ships?

    2) Stannis lived at Dragonstone, Dany’s ancestral home. There is plenty of dragonglass there.

    I hope that Sam and Gendry somehow team up to tie these elements together for defeating the WWs.

    Thoughts?

  401. Tyrion going to be so pissed at Varys it’s going to wake the little dragon inside Tyrion rofl

  402. first ,my first time editing lol https://youtu.be/_nh9yu4Hfqg

    2nd i think Jaqen and Syrio are both servants that came from a contract Ned made with Varys. 1st contract was to train Arya so Varys summoned Syrio . Syrio trains her for awhile. then holds off Meryn Trant while she gets away. he then gives himself up so he doesn’t die and gets thrown into a black cell,and later on collected by a man from the nights watch. just before Neds beheading he mumbles I’d give my life for Arya’s.Varys standing right there hears him and takes the contract. To save her life and train Arya ,Syrio will not do. so Syrio turns into Jaqen H’ghar.

    3rd Did you know that Tyrion is going to run into Shae in the street. did you know Varys is a faceless man and was the Shae Tyrion strangled ..(did you know this mean Tywin slept with Varys) did you know we will find out next episode .Tyrion is going to FREAK OUT seeing Shae alive and when Varys explains , this is going to wake the little dragon inside Tyrion and call the yellow dragon to him making him the second dragon rider leaving one left for Jon or Bran .lol you wait and see……

  403. This new priestess will tell that Tyrion is the Azor ahai. Melissandre (Jon Snow) , Kinvara (Daenerys) and the new one is for Tyrion.

  404. if Shae really did go on the boat the real her wouldn’t even know Tyrion was put on trial . i hope he doesn’t see her and try to kill her again lol .that would make him evil (like Arya killing Meryn Trant )and if Varys is a faceless man and is there he might try to kill Tyrion and then the Red priest will bring him back ha ha ha .Tyrion gets up and be like WTF Varys did you just stab me!! .Varys replies sorry my lord I’m a faceless man, I have to serve justice but we cool coz u died and now you are back .lets go back to the Pyramid for morning tea   . that’s when the dragon shows up and eats Varys . but he just magic and walks back from around the nearest corner . Even the dragon would have a tripped out look on his face be like WTF didn’t i just eat you !!!!

  405. dfc,

    sorry but I’m calling Jon red priestess is going to turn into Ygritte and Jon going to stab her through the heart and his sword will light on fire and we shall call this sword lightbringer

  406. tfish_66,

    That’s a mystery to me too(why Brienne, Sansa aren’t making a big deal about Jon’s dying then coming back to life).

    For Brienne, she’s a stranger so she might not care too much. Sansa is expected to be aghast, but she’s not. She isn’t a very warm person and seems to have conflict with all her siblings.

  407. LyannaBanna: hope that Sam and Gendry somehow team up to tie these elements together for defeating the WWs.

    I have said several times that Gendry will forge Valyrian steel from iron and obsidian at Winterfell. Did Gendry learn how from same smith that converted Ice to two swords? Or does Sam find the recipe and transmit it to Gendry? We shall see.

  408. Apollo: That dude has Afro like hair, just like Miltos. The blonde extra doesn’t… This is really driving me crazy

    Maybe we are finally going to get an answer to the question of why the FM were in KL in the first place!

  409. Danny:
    Chad Brick,

    Maybe I am not enough of a pessimist but to me basic human decency is something we are born with, it is not a modern concept, it’s always been there.

    And maybe I’m too much of a cynic, but there is no such thing as basic human decency. If there was, the first religions which really were moral codes of sorts for the early civilizations or even the religions of the Book – with the same objectives – wouldn’t have existed. If Humans were good there would be no need to preach them to do no Evil (or more obvious, police wouldn’t have to exist). So, we are not born gentle (funny because the etymology of gentle actually means pagan…), we are taught to be (and it sticks, if we’re lucky). But in a society where all the things we disapprove of now existed, this is their normality. Some people might rethink the way they live, but they’re usually from the upper classes, because only them have the knowledge to understand how things they take for granted can be totally wrong.
    Judging our ancesters is pointless, because everything they did and thought already passed. Now, taking lessons from them is what matters, that’s how we evolved. This is why knowledge is the most important thing when used correctly (and one might argue that “correctly” is a question of perspective). That’s what intelligence is about. I think it’s very in our nature to hate or fear whatever isn’t ourselves or our close ones (family, spouse…), which are OURS, you’ll note. Only intelligence and self-awareness can cure us : just because I can be less than wholesome, I won’t suspect others to be as well and judge them for it, or just because people have qualities I don’t, I won’t envy them, or hate them for reflecting to me my own mediocrity.
    More thinking, less emotions… And not confusing one with the other. Emotion has its place and shouldn’t be intellectualized (here I’m being a hypocrite, ’cause I do that all the time, though I know it’s stupid), and the contrary is true as well.
    Our vision of the world is biased by the time we live in. Of course, we can say that’s bad or that’s bad now, because we know better, we have access to all the information and how and why it was wrong. Had the things not changed, I’m not sure we would be so open-minded.
    Sometimes, the right decision can even come from a morally dubious conclusion.
    Did you know that France (and I suspect England as well) abolished slavery not because it was the right thing to do, but because it was a better economic choice? They brought Indians to work alongside the former slaves and it cost them a lot less than keeping slaves in their domains and feeding them : they paid their “new workers” minimum wages and sold them everything else they needed. From their pockets to their pockets. Of course they were people who wanted to abolish slavery because it was bad, but the government thought about the profit first, the people behind it didn’t even matter. And, of course, history tries to present it as a good deed.
    That’s why the scene between Tyrion and the slaves owners cracked me up. So very true!

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