| 1 | Fridge examples for ''Series/GameOfThrones''. |
| 2 | ---- |
| 3 | !!FridgeBrilliance |
| 4 | |
| 5 | [[AC:Series-Wide]] |
| 6 | * One can find many parallels between Jon's fight against Karl Tanner and Ned Stark's fight against Arthur Dayne. |
| 7 | ** Both feature a member of the Stark family battling an enemy who [[DualWielding fights with two blades]] (knives for Karl, swords for Dayne). |
| 8 | ** The enemy overcomes the Stark, but is stabbed from behind (Sissy stabs Karl and Howland Reed stabs Dayne). |
| 9 | ** The fight ends with the enemy being finished off with a Valyrian sword (Jon impales Karl through the head with Longclaw and Ned decapitates Dayne with his own sword, Dawn). |
| 10 | * From the opening titles, the coins rolling down the aqueduct of Braavos. Of ''course'' the model of the ProudMerchantRace city is ''coin-operated''. |
| 11 | * ''Wyrm'' is another word for a dragon, which makes Grey ''Worm'''s service to Dany an astonishingly appropriate coincidence, especially since he was given a new insulting name each day before his liberation. |
| 12 | * Obsidian is also called dragonglass. Obsidian is volcanic glass made from great heat, and dragons are considered the embodiment of fire. This also explains why when an obsidian weapon stabs a White Walker, the embodiment of cold, both the obsidian and the White Walker melt away. Given how hot we see dragonfire is (especially in "Spoils of War"), it seems likely that dragonfire can ''create'' dragonglass, in the same way volcanic lava creates obsidian. |
| 13 | * A meta-example; the series has come to redefine the AnyoneCanDie trope, but this runs the risk of losing viewers who might be watching solely for one particular character. Now, however, it seems the creators have found a way to make viewers stick around; in the wake of Jon Snow's death and resurrection, they're basically saying, "Yeah, we bumped off your favorite for the sake of great drama, but stick around! You never know!" |
| 14 | * For those familiar with the books, Ellaria Sand is the bastard daughter of Lord Uller and there's a common Dornish saying that [[AxCrazy "Half of the Ullers are half-mad, and the other half are worse"]]. Book Ellaria is the complete opposite of that saying as she is not vengeful or bloodthirsty. However, [[AdaptationalVillainy TV Ellaria]] perfectly fits the saying given [[TheSociopath for her actions]] in Seasons 5 and 6 and she could either fall on the mad half or the worse half or maybe both. |
| 15 | * In the Season 1 finale, there's a memorable scene where we learn that Grand Maester Pycelle is actually much more spry and alert than he appears, but [[ObfuscatingStupidity pretends to be frail and absent-minded]] so that his rivals will underestimate him. Near the end of Season 5, we learn the opposite about Melisandre: she's actually a frail and elderly old woman, but uses a magical charm to make herself appear young and beautiful [[FemmeFatale so that she can use seduction to manipulate people]]. Why is this significant? Because Pycelle and Melisandre are also opposites in a different way: as a Maester, Pycelle sees himself as a guardian of science and scholarship, and he abhors magic and superstition; as a Red Priestess, Melisandre sees herself as an ambassador of R'hllor, and she uses magic to perform feats that can't be understood through science. |
| 16 | * In Season 3, when Dany first meets Missandei, and the latter notes in Valyrian "Valar Morghulis" which Dany translates as "All Men Must Die, but we are not men", Missandei pauses and gives a significant look, and it's a set up to the scene where Dany invokes BilingualBackfire and burns the Astapori slavers and liberates the Unsullied. But another meaning becomes apparent when in Season 7, Missandei brings up the BlindIdiotTranslation of the gender-neutral phrases of Valyrian translated into inexact male and female pronouns when Melisandre mentions the Prince who was Promised prophecy. As a professional translator who pays attention to grammatical and linguistic exactness, Missandei didn't immediately latch on to Dany's significant double-meaning of "All Men Must Die" because in Valyrian, "Valar Morghulis" could mean "All Men/All Women Must Die" whereas Dany as a native fluent speaker of both Common Tongue and Valyrian, never made that connection, and thought that Valar Morghulis did not necessarily apply to women. |
| 17 | * Retroactively, the dialogue exchange in Season 1, "The Kingsroad" becomes this in light of the revelations of the Season 7 finale: |
| 18 | -->'''Robert Baratheon''': ''Oh, it's unspeakable to you? What her father did to your family, that was unspeakable! What Rhaegar Targaryen did to your sister, the woman I loved! I'll kill every Targaryen I get my hands on!'' |
| 19 | -->'''Ned Stark''': ''But you can't get your hands on this one, can you?'' |
| 20 | ** This is classic OneDialogueTwoConversations. On the surface Ned and Robert are talking about Daenerys, but secretly, Robert stating that what Rhaegar did to Lyanna was unspeakable, was being actually accurate, and Ned replying "you can't get your hands on this one" is not referring to Daenerys, or Daenerys alone, but to Jon Snow, and he's more or less smugly smiling to his best friend, about how well he kept the secret of Aegon "Jon Snow" Targaryen right under his nose. |
| 21 | *** Fridge Heartbreaking to go with it: Ned knows the truth about [[spoiler: Lyanna and Rhaegar's relationship]], but he also knows Robert well enough to know that his love for Lyanna isn't as genuine as Robert thinks (compare Robert's inability to remember her face, versus Maester Aemon's clear memory of his own love despite being blind). Imagine having to sit through a rant like that, knowing all the reasons it's wrong but being unable to express it. |
| 22 | * The use of ''Rains of Castamere'' during the Red Wedding is intended as a way to taunt the Starks before they're slaughtered, and seems to be targeted at them: They've stood up to the Lannisters the way House Reyne of Castamere did, and now they're going to be wiped out like they were. However, the context of the lyrics doesn't actually reflect the Starks very well, but in doing so it creates a secondary foreshadowing for what will happen to the Boltons and Freys: |
| 23 | ** Firstly, the Reynes were sworn bannermen to the Lannisters, and betrayed them when they decided that Tytos Lannister was too soft, and so took advantage of his kindness. This is ''not'' reflecting the Stark's behaviour, as they were legitimately wronged by the Lannisters and are seeking justice, but it ''does'' reflect the behaviour of the Boltons and the Freys: They were sworn to the Starks and Tulleys, but Roose Bolton decided that Robb was too soft because he refused to KickTheDog like he wanted, while Walder Frey took advantage of the Starks in a desperate time (making a ridiculous demand for them to pass through the Twins) and when the Starks failed to live up to every part of the deal (Robb having chosen to marry for love instead of honouring his agreement to marry one of the Frey girls), he took advantage of another desperate time for them to lure them into a trap under the false pretense of sacred guest right. |
| 24 | ** And secondly, in doing so, it predicts the end-result of this betrayal: Because they betrayed Tytos Lannister, Tywin Lannister rose up and took his place, proceeding to defeat the Lords of Castamere and wipe out their houses from existence, until all that remains is the 'Lannister Song' and its lyrics that reflect their failed betrayal. This, in turn, reflects the Boltons and the Freys: They betrayed Robb Stark, but because they did so they set the stage for the Starks to rise again under Jon Snow, Arya, and Sansa. As a direct result, the three combined proceeded to wipe out the Boltons and the Freys, leaving none behind, much like what happened to the Reynes. |
| 25 | * Throughout Seasons 3-4, we see Sandor and Arya’s journey across Westeros, we also see Sandor missing more and more pieces of his armor as time goes on. Now that he's without a lord and traveling for months over the countryside, Sandor has neither the means nor the funds to maintain his armor. |
| 26 | * Both Jon Snow and Beric Dondarion claim that TheNothingAfterDeath is what they saw when they died after being resurrected, which seems to imply that despite all the various afterlives the various religions believe in, there is no afterlife. But consider that they were both resurrected, and if greenseers can see glimpses of the future then the theoretical afterlife would be able to recognize who is destined to be resurrected, so would not allow them into the afterlife, only for them to be pulled straight back out again. They do not recall the afterlife because they truly were stuck in limbo instead. |
| 27 | * When Tywin gives his "Wisdom" speech to Tommen, he posits the question on who to support as king if you have a dispute between "A lord with great wealth and fertile lands and another with a powerful navy that could oppose you." He is basically talking about the Tyrells and Greyjoys. The Ironborn have raided the shores of the Reach for centuries and on several occasions risen up to oppose the Iron Throne. Tywin in his wisdom sides with the wealthy and fertile Tyrells, while Cersei instead in her foolishness sides with the Greyjoys and their fleet. |
| 28 | * Sansa's preoccupation with making sure Winterfell has enough food in Seasons 7 and 8 directly relates to her experience of being attacked and nearly raped by starving peasants during the King's Landing bread riot in Season 2. |
| 29 | * The very first promotional picture for the show, the one depicting Ned Stark sitting on the Iron Throne, has two details that show that accurately foreshadow the ending of the entire series: [[spoiler: specifically, a Stark on the Iron Throne with a Three-Eyed Raven on the arm. Brandon '''Stark''', the current Three-Eyed Raven, ends the series on the Throne... or at least he would have if Drogon hadn't melted it.]] |
| 30 | * Arya's [[TextileWorkIsFeminine hatred of needlework]] has a bit of FridgeBrilliance when it's noted that Arya is left-handed. In the military, being left-handed gives you an advantage because opponents are often unused to attacks from the wrong side--but since daily tasks are ALSO geared towards right-handed people, they range from [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome annoying to downright impossible,]] which is why left-handers are historically portrayed as TheKlutz. In a fine-manipulation craft like sewing, Arya would have either been forced to use her right hand to follow instructions properly, or forced to reverse ''every single direction'' if she didn't. |
| 31 | * Littlefinger's Credo is "Knowledge is power". He is ultimately defeated with the help of Bran Stark, whose (supernatural) knowledge he cannot match. |
| 32 | |
| 33 | [[AC:Season 1]] |
| 34 | * Jaqen H'ghar's first appearance is hidden in a cloak, with his face not visible. This was done because the actor wasn't cast yet, but it's also a reference to his true identity as a Faceless Man. |
| 35 | * When Arya is running away from the fight between Syrio and Meryn Trant, we can hear something that sounds like a metallic object falling on the floor. Now, who had a steel sword moments ago? |
| 36 | * In "You Win Or You Die", Cersei orders Ned to kneel before her near the end of the episode. Of course, Ned won't because his honor prevents it, but furthermore, ''his leg wound means he physically can't, and Cersei probably realizes this.'' |
| 37 | * The show's use of '{{sexposition}}', which is exposition via sex scenes. Seeing as how everyone seems to talk their heads off during sex, is it any surprise that Littlefinger, who runs the brothels in King's Landing, is also a bit of a KnowledgeBroker? |
| 38 | * The first scene with Jaime and Cersei in episode 1. Viewers will infer that the Lannisters were behind Jon Arryn's murder. If you listen to their conversation, it's obvious they weren't the perpetrators -- they were worried because they had no idea how much Jon Arryn knew, and what his actions were before his death! Before they had the chance to interrogate (and murder) Arryn, someone else had taken him out. |
| 39 | * Robert Baratheon mentions that he favored wielding a war hammer in battle. It is perhaps no coincidence that his [[HeroicBastard bastard son]] Gendry is first seen wielding the hammer of a blacksmith. In "What Is Dead, May Never Die", Gendry is seen wielding a hammer when fighting the Lannisters. |
| 40 | * Ned and Ser Barristan save Robert's life. He wanted to fight in the melee during Hand's tournament, drinking all the way (and it was Lancel Lannister serving him wine then, just like he did during the hunt, so it was probably spiked). Lannisters were planning to kill Robert during the melee and make it look like somebody accidentally hit him on the head or hurt him in other way,maybe by a knight taking a sharp sword instead of blunt from his stupid squire or something. Robert was saved because he was 1) too fat for his armor and 2) had a Hand who was not a sycophant, could and would stand up to him and told him the truth ("Nobody would dare raise their hand against their king, your grace. Robert: Wait, they would let me win?! That's not fun at all!") |
| 41 | * In episode 6 "A Golden Crown", Ser Jorah Mormont stops Viserys from taking the eggs, saying, "And yet here I stand." He's not just being badass -- he's paraphrasing his House words ("Here We Stand"). |
| 42 | * The scene where the Stark household discovers a direwolf and a stag's MutualKill foreshadows a number of future events: |
| 43 | ** Stags and Direwolves are the sigils of Houses Baratheon and Stark. Sure enough, Ned and Robert's actions lead to their deaths within the season. |
| 44 | ** When Ned orders the direwolf pups to be killed, the Stark children protest, while Theon pulls out his knife right away. Theon will ultimately betray the Starks. |
| 45 | ** Jon uses his illegitimacy to save the litter of pups and so each of his half brothers and sisters can have one but he later finds an albino pup who is separated from the others and adopts him as his own, calling him "Ghost". Like his direwolf Ghost, Jon is both part of his Stark family and is also separated to a degree from the other Stark kids -- not only because he is an illegitimate child, but because he's actually their cousin (as Jon is the son of Ned's sister Lyanna, making him Ned's nephew) -- though they all still have Stark blood. The white fur and red eyes of the albino wolf also call to mind the unusual coloration of Targaryens -- silver hair and (in the novels) purple eyes. |
| 46 | ** Grey Wind joins his master Robb in battle and sometimes even strikes the first blow, just as Robb leads from the front, and both are murdered with crossbow bolts during the Red Wedding. |
| 47 | ** Lady is the most docile of the direwolves, but is ordered to die on command of the Queen, just as Sansa is at the mercy of the Queen. Both Sansa and Lady are sentenced to death on accusation of harming Joffrey. |
| 48 | ** Nymeria is forced to go on the run and fend for herself, just as Arya is. |
| 49 | ** Summer is pretty even-tempered and is only seen attacking out of defensive instinct. Bran is even-tempered and outspoken in his desire to protect his subjects. Summer sacrifices himself to protect Bran, while Bran will most likely have to sacrifice his future as a Stark in order to take the Three Eyed Raven's place. |
| 50 | ** Shaggydog is particularly aggressive. Rickon is irritable and confused while most of his family is away. Both are killed rather brutally and suddenly. |
| 51 | ** Ghost is different from the rest of his siblings and is discovered having separated himself from the rest of the litter, just as Jon Snow is the [[HeroicBastard bastard son]] of Ned Stark and leaves Winterfell to join the Night's Watch. Ghost and Jon are both part of their families while also being a bit apart from their siblings, too. Ghost is also an albino, while the other direwolves are mostly grey. Traditionally, noble-born bastard children can have the sigil of their house (if knighted), but with colors reversed, in this case a white direwolf on grey as opposed to the Stark's grey direwolf on white. Ghost's white fur also symbolises the fact that Jon's actual father is from House Targaryen, whose members are known for having hair so blonde it's almost white. |
| 52 | * Ned is surprised to find a direwolf south of the Wall. The White Walkers are making the land beyond the Wall uninhabitable even for direwolves and have pushed this one south. Mance Rayder reveals a similar intention for the Wildlings in Season 3. |
| 53 | * When Dany asks Mirri Maz Duur if anything can be done to save Drogo, Mirri very briefly and visibly glances at Dany's stomach. Probably not a detail you'd notice if you didn't know what was coming. |
| 54 | * Drogo's wound becomes infected in spite of Mirri Maz Duur's treatment, but several episodes later she reveals that she hates the Dothraki and wants revenge on them. Certainly, she botched the treatment on purpose in order to facilitate her ultimate betrayal. |
| 55 | * Sansa says, "I'll be a good wife to [Joffrey], you'll see. I'll be a queen ''just like you'', I promise! I won't hatch anything!" This stands in contrast to a different queen, who [[OurDragonsAreDifferent does hatch something.]] |
| 56 | * Jorah's armor looks oddly familiar, doesn't it? It's ''Northerner'' armor, because Jorah was a knight of the North until he was exiled, and he would naturally bring along the armor he possessed before his exile. |
| 57 | * Robb's men's assessment of Frey's character foreshadow his actions word-for-word in the Red Wedding in Season 3. |
| 58 | --> '''Greatjon''': "He'll sell you to the Lannisters as he likes!" |
| 59 | --> '''Theon:''' "Or slit your throat." |
| 60 | --> and |
| 61 | --> '''Catelyn:''' "I have known Lord Walder since I was a girl. He would never harm me." |
| 62 | --> '''Greatjon:''' "Unless there was a profit in it." |
| 63 | * Dany's survival of the funeral pyre in the Season 1 finale is foreshadowed several times. In her first scene, she steps into a scalding bath without reaction. Later, she holds burning-hot dragon eggs without being burned. After her brother's death, in which he is killed by burning molten gold, she flat-out asserts, "Fire cannot kill a dragon." |
| 64 | * One can surmise dragon's eggs are hatched by the mother breathing fire on them, as they hatch after Dany places them on the funeral pyre. |
| 65 | * In episode 1, Robert wants Ned to run his kingdom, "While I eat, drink, and whore my way into an early grave." Now, let's look at Robert's death: it was connected to all three (eating -- he was hunting a boar, drinking -- he was drunk, whoring -- his bastard children make Ned realize the truth about Cersei's children, forcing her to plan his death). |
| 66 | * There's one scene where Viserys is in the bathtub with Doreah. She seductively pours hot wax on his chest and makes him wince in pain. This foreshadows his death by burning, in contrast to the apparently heatproof Daenerys. |
| 67 | * Ser Barristan's last parting remark to Joffrey that he melt Barristan's sword down and add it to the Iron Throne isn't just bravado. The Iron Throne was made by Aegon the Conqueror out of the swords of his ''enemies''. |
| 68 | * King Robert's introduction to the Stark children ironically foreshadows their fates: |
| 69 | ** He shakes Robb's hand, almost acknowledging him as an equal. Robb becomes King of the North after being supported by his bannermen and allies in a rebellion against a corrupt and evil monarch, much like Robert had done in his youth. |
| 70 | ** He passes over Rickon and just ruffles his hair. Rickon later is PutOnABus and virtually disappears from the series until Season 6. |
| 71 | ** He remarks how pretty Sansa is, which becomes more of [[SoBeautifulItsACurse a curse]] for her when she is at the mercy of his son and later at the hands of Ramsay Bolton. |
| 72 | ** He asks Arya her name, which she later is forced to discard when she becomes "No One," a disciple of the Many-Faced God. |
| 73 | ** He tells Bran to show off his muscles and says he'll be a soldier. Only a day later Bran is thrown from the tower and becomes a cripple. |
| 74 | ** Every Stark Robert touches in the above scene is dead as of Season 8. |
| 75 | * The three lords who pledge loyalty to Robb in the King in the North scene are Theon Greyjoy, Rickard Karstark, and Greatjon Umber. Theon betrays Robb in Season 2 and the Karstarks and Umbers betray the Starks as well. |
| 76 | * In the scene between Jon and Maester Aemon, Aemon states that love can make men do dishonorable things. Jon insists that Ned would always do what is right and never give up his honor, but through the course of the series, we see Ned sacrifice his honor out of love twice: once in declaring Joffrey the true king to save his daughters Sansa and Arya, and once in lying about his nephew Jon's parentage to keep Jon safe and keep a promise to his sister Lyanna. |
| 77 | * Everybody remembers the moment in "The Kingsroad" when Ned tells Jon "You may not have my name, but you have my blood", since it later turned out to be {{foreshadowing}} for TheReveal that Jon is actually Ned's ''nephew''. But it's also very much in-character for Ned to say this: he's a "man of honor" who clearly [[WillNotTellALie doesn't like lying]], and if you rewatch Season 1, you'll notice that this is the ''only'' scene when Ned explicitly speaks about his familial connection with Jon. Tellingly, instead of outright saying that Jon is his son, he just tells him that he has his blood -- [[ExactWords because that's actually true]]. |
| 78 | * Starting in 2014, an artist named Robert Ball created a series of posters for ''Game of Thrones'' called [[https://beautifuldeath.com/ "Beautiful Death"]]. A poster has been created for each individual episode, each one depicting the death of a character from the series. The pieces are laden with symbolism and hidden meanings: |
| 79 | ** Episode 1: |
| 80 | *** The bloodstains on the rock look like a map of Westeros. The sword, Ice, is also positioned in the painting so that it divides Westeros in half vertically, foreshadowing that the kingdom will soon be torn apart by the War of Five Kings. |
| 81 | *** This episode's Beautiful Death represents the beheading of Ser Waymar Royce, but it also foreshadows the death of Ned Stark himself. On the orders of King Joffrey Baratheon, he will be beheaded with Ice, which will spur the enraged North into rebellion, begin the War of Five Kings, and bathe the realm in blood. |
| 82 | ** Episode 3: The Three-Eyed Raven is perched on a tree, which is adorned with several skulls that seem to be merged into the wood. Like how Lord Brynden Rivers became part of a weirwood tree after becoming the three-eyed crow. |
| 83 | ** Episode 4: Ser Hugh is killed by Gregor Clegane. His Beautiful Death is shown by the snarling dog on Gregor's shield, its mouth and claws dripping with his blood. |
| 84 | ** Episode 6: Viserys' death is represented by dripping gold that forms the shape of a skull. |
| 85 | ** Episode 7: The landscape forms a boar's head in profile, the boar that killed King Robert. |
| 86 | ** Episode 8: At the pointy end of Needle, a very tiny, bloody silhouette of the stableboy Arya killed can be seen. |
| 87 | ** Episode 9: The bloodstains on Ned's throat gradually change into a flock of ravens flying away. According to the artist, they represent the ravens carrying the messages to all of Westeros that Ned Stark is dead. |
| 88 | ** Episode 10: Khal Drogo's death is represented by a massive horse in the sky formed from clouds and smoke, with stars for its nostrils and eyes. In the books, the Dothraki believe that the stars are a herd of fiery horses galloping across the sky, and that a warrior goes to ride in the night lands when he dies. |
| 89 | |
| 90 | [[AC:Season 2]] |
| 91 | * The parallels between Sansa and Arya's situations in "A Garden of Bones". Both endure torture at the hands of the Lannisters, and both are rescued by the Lords of the Lannisters. Tyrion compliments Sansa on her composure after being stripped and beaten and Tywin compliments Arya on her smarts for traveling as a boy. The ironic part is that Tywin is completely unaware of who Arya really is. |
| 92 | * The melody playing as ThePurge of Robert's bastard children goes on in the first episode of the second season is "The King's Coming". Indeed, King's Landing, here comes your new king. |
| 93 | * If you look closely at the model of Harrenhal in the opening credit sequence, it has the remnants of moving parts, showing that it's not just the model of a broken castle but a broken model of a broken castle. |
| 94 | * The deliberate parallel between Jon Snow and Theon Grejoy in "The Old Gods and the New" when they are holding prisoners at swordpoint and ready to kill them. Theon, driven by the need to prove himself to his harsh and brutal men, chooses to succumb to the pressure to do something he clearly doesn't want to and delivers a botched execution on Rodrik. Jon, meanwhile, is alone with his prisoner, and [[WhatYouAreInTheDark no one would know]] if he took Ygritte's head or spared her. And in the end, Jon spares her. This does a great job showing the difference between two of the people who felt the most like outsiders of the Stark household. |
| 95 | * When Daxos is vouching for Dany and her people, the one among the Thirteen who nods first and most enthusiastically? Pyat Pree. Considering their arrangement, the foreshadowing is quite subtle but very deliberate. |
| 96 | * No wonder Tyrion begins his conversation about Myrcella with Pycelle by asking him for a laxative. He's full of shit. |
| 97 | * Bronn's cautionary words about the distribution of wildfire are validated. During the Battle of Blackwater, we see some workers lose hold of the mass of rocks they were pulling towards a catapult. Now, imagine if this was wildfire. |
| 98 | * In his first meeting with Dany, Pyat Pree dismisses Xaro's possessions as "baubles and trinkets," even though Xaro is known as the richest man in Qarth. It later turns out that not only is Pyat working with Xaro, but that Xaro's treasure vault is empty. Pyat knows that Xaro's riches amount to no more than the furniture and bric-a-brac around his home. |
| 99 | * In "The Night Lands", Melisandre whispers to Matthos, Davos' son, that death by fire is the purest death. What happens to Matthos in Blackwater? Death by wildfire. |
| 100 | * The beautiful symmetry between the Season 1 and Season 2 finales. Both seasons end with the return of something supernatural that hasn't been seen in centuries, but where Season 1 uses fire to bring about the return of something magical and wondrous, Season 2 uses ice to signal the return of something magical and horrifying. Ice and fire are recurring themes in the series. Oh, and both seasons end with a DarkReprise of the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfCn6gFnBx8 main]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9GDvjyfPFc theme]]. |
| 101 | * Although it's never remarked upon in the show, Robb's marriage ceremony is a combination of his faith in the Old Gods and his wife's faith in the Seven. They're married by a septon in front of an oak tree (a weirwood being unavailable in the South). |
| 102 | * Some of Drogo's lines in the House of the Undying are similar to lines from ''Conan the Barbarian'', another character portrayed by Jason Momoa: |
| 103 | -->'''Drogo:''' Or maybe this is a dream. Your dream or my dream, I do not know. These are questions for wise men with skinny arms. You are the moon of my life, that is all I know and all I need to know. And if this is a dream, then I will kill the man who tries to wake me. |
| 104 | -->'''Conan:''' Let teachers and priests and philosophers brood over questions of reality and illusion. I know this: if life is an illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and I am content. |
| 105 | * In the premiere episode, there's a scene where Robb and Catelyn argue about trading Jaime for Sansa and Arya, during the course of which Robb yells at his mother -- he immediately looks guilty and ashamed. The next scene is of Joffrey and Cersei arguing about Arya, during the course of which Cersei slaps her son -- he immediately threatens her with death. It's a great contrast between the relationships among the Starks and the Lannisters. |
| 106 | * Dagmer's kraken sigil is torn apart. Of course he'd be the one to betray Theon. |
| 107 | * "What Is Dead May Never Die" is a DoubleMeaningTitle. It's the motto of the Drowned God of the Ironborn and spoken by Theon during his baptism. It's also a reference to Arya's DeceasedFallGuyGambit in the the final scene, convincing the Lannister men that they can't kill Gendry because he's already dead. |
| 108 | * "The Old Gods and the New": Robb compromises the North's campaign and his duty as king for a woman (Talisa); Jon compromises the Night Watch's mission for a woman (Ygritte); Theon compromises his hold over Winterfell for a woman (Osha). You can even make a case that Balon is right, and Theon is ruining everything because he can't keep it in his pants but at the same time is too chivalrous to just rape and kill like an Ironborn would. Instead, he acts like every other son raised by a certain Ned Stark, who nearly ruined his marriage when he came back with his bastard son to raise at home. |
| 109 | * In "Valar Morgulis", no less than four main characters are offered a "temptation" to leave the struggle they are immersed in and escape it all into a far easier life: Dany tempted to stay in the illusory world with Drogo and their son, Theon tempted to join the Night's Watch, Arya tempted to stop looking for her family and go to Braavos under Jaqen's protection, and Tyrion tempted to go to Essos and live a life of pleasure with Shae. All of them reject their temptation, because it would involve denying and losing their very identity. |
| 110 | * When Salladhor Saan says "You Westerosi are funny people. Man chops your fingers off, you fall in love with him," he's specifically talking about Davos and Stannis, but this is also a callback to Greatjon and Robb. |
| 111 | * In the first episode of Season 2, Osha and Bran talk about the red comet and what everybody thinks it may mean: Robb winning a big battle, the Lannisters ruling Westeros, blood flowing en masse and dragons returning. By Season 3, all of these things have happened. Robb has won a lot of big battles, the Lannisters have retained control of the Seven Kingdoms with Joffrey as King, copious amounts of blood has been spilled, and dragons have returned. |
| 112 | * Theon tells Maester Luwin he will not abandon Winterfell as he refuses to be mocked for a coward or a eunuch. [[GroinAttack Guess what happens to him in Season 3?]] |
| 113 | * Jaqen H'Ghar tells Arya that by saving Rorge, Biter, and him from the cage, she "stole three deaths from the Red God." But as we later learn, Jaqen is a follower of the God of Many Faces, a conglomeration of all religions focused around death. So why does he use the title most commonly used to refer to Melisandre's Lord of Light? Because Jaqen, Rorge, and Biter would have burned to death in the cage if Arya hadn't rescued them, and the Lord of Light is most commonly associated with fire. Indeed, worshipers of the Red God have a nasty habit of burning people alive as human sacrifices, because they believe fire is the purest form of death. So Jaqen associates death by burning as specifically relating to the R'hllor aspect of the God of Many Faces. If she had rescued them from drowning, he might have said she "stole three deaths from the Drowned God." |
| 114 | * Tyrion's BatmanGambit of marrying Myrcella to discover who the snitch is in the small council actually contains tons of {{foreshadowing}} of future events in the series as well as parallelism with the characters he mentioned: |
| 115 | ** He tells Pycelle that he'll marry Myrcella to the heir of Dorne, which is what ends up happening as Pycelle is revealed to be the snitch. He also scolded the Grand Maester for letting Jon Arryn die of poison. Just like Pycelle betrayed Tyrion, Myrcella was ultimately betrayed by Ellaria Sand, and she was killed by the latter via poisoning. |
| 116 | ** He tells Varys that he'll marry Myrcella to Theon, with the "intention" of destroying the Stark army from within. Theon betrays the Starks at the end of the same episode. And Theon ultimately becomes a eunuch just like Varys. |
| 117 | ** He tells Littlefinger that he'll marry Myrcella to Robin Arryn, with Littlefinger looking uncomfortable as he knows that Tyrion wants him to break the news to Robin's mother, Lysa. It's later revealed that Littlefinger has an affair with Lysa for his own personal gain. |
| 118 | * The Beautiful Death art for this season: |
| 119 | ** Episode 1: The left half of Maester Cressen's face, when seen through the red wine glass, turns into a skull. He dies in this episode by drinking the poisoned wine meant for Melisandre, attempting and failing to take her with him. |
| 120 | ** Episode 2: A White Walker's face is seen on the left side of the moon, looking down at the baby in the cradle--the baby that will soon become another White Walker. |
| 121 | ** Episode 4: The negative space formed by the soldiers is shaped like House Lannister's lion sigil. |
| 122 | ** Episode 5: The shadows on Melisandre's face make it look like a skull, with another shadowy skeletal face below her chest, approximately where her womb is. This is the shadow demon she gave birth to in order to kill Renly. |
| 123 | ** Episode 6: This episode's art shows a messenger raven getting shot dead with a poison dart. The raven represents Ser Amory Lorch, who was killed before he could get a message to Tywin that Arya had stolen and read a war order. |
| 124 | ** Episode 7: The picture is split into eleven pieces, one for each member of the Thirteen killed by Pyat Pree. |
| 125 | ** Episode 8: The two men standing in front of the gate appear to cast shadows made of blood, spilling onto the stones. |
| 126 | ** Episode 9: The wildfire jar in Tyrion's hand is filled with smoke and tiny images of ships burning. Also, a ring decorated with a lion's head can be seen on his fourth finger. |
| 127 | |
| 128 | [[AC:Season 3]] |
| 129 | * Way back in the very first episode, Jaime asked Ned Stark about him not competing in tournaments, to which Ned responded, "I don't fight in tournaments, because when I fight a man for real, I don't want him to see what I can do." Later in Season 3, Jaime and Brienne are caught by Roose Bolton's men because a farmer had seen him fight in a tournament, recognized him and told them. Jaime's vanity has finally caught up to him! |
| 130 | * Daenerys suddenly reveals herself to be fluent in Valyrian in "And Now His Watch Has Ended." This was hinted at in previous episodes when she teaches her dragons a Valyrian command word and translates the phrase "valar morghulis." She also has an unheard conversation with a dying slave in "The Walk Of Punishment". During her conversations with the slavemaster, her expression also occasionally betrays her understanding. |
| 131 | * Why would Ros risk her life to aid Sansa and generally be a pain the ass to Littlefinger's plans? She makes it clear in the first episode of this season, when she mentions to Shae that she remembers the bells ringing to announce Sansa's birth. Simply put, Ned Stark was her lord for years, and his stern justice probably kept her and her fellow prostitutes safer than they would have otherwise been. Her finding a place in King's Landing may have even owed something to him being Hand (it's fairly easy to imagine Northern girls coming into fashion among sycophants when a Stark is Hand). |
| 132 | * In "Valar Dohaeris", while Tyrion is talking to Cersei, Ser Meryn Trant and another guard are guarding the door. Bronn comes along and tries to enter the room when he is blocked by Ser Meryn Trant who says 'You put your hand on that door and you lose the hand.' This may be a double entendre from Meryn Trant, who is also threatening the life of Tyrion Lannister with this line. |
| 133 | * Daenerys insists on making Missandei a part of her deal with the Astapori slavers. The fact that Daenerys understands Valyrian means that she doesn't need Missandei as a translator, but it also means that she was aware of Missandei's TactfulTranslation and was either suitably impressed or moved to pity, or both. |
| 134 | * There are several hints that the identity of the cleaning boy who "rescues" Theon is Ramsay Snow, Roose Bolton's bastard son: |
| 135 | ** He quotes the Stark words, "Winter Is Coming," hinting that he's not from the Iron Islands as he claims. |
| 136 | ** He refers to Theon several times as "my lord," when it was established in Season 2 that commoners always say "m'lord" rather than "my lord." |
| 137 | ** The soldier calls him "bastard" just before being killed. |
| 138 | ** He tells Theon "We're not in the Iron Islands." This is similar to a line delivered by Roose Bolton to Robb: "We're not in the North." |
| 139 | ** This is the second time Theon's been kept awake by someone blowing a horn at him, and on top of that, the device Theon is bound to can come across as awfully familiar to those who have seen the banner of House Bolton. |
| 140 | * Right after Karl kills Craster, Mormont is heard screaming, "You will be cursed by every law...!" This is a reference to SacredHospitality, which is a big deal in ancient cultures and in Westeros. It's also a big hint about exactly why Robb, his family and his ''army'' were massacred in mere minutes: they'd eaten bread and salt from Walder Frey, which was supposed to guarantee their safety under his roof, and had entered his castle unarmed and unprepared. |
| 141 | * Both Melisandre and Thoros of Myr are red priests. However, while she is fanatical, uncompromising, and has Stannis' victory as her main goal, he is a laid-back drunkard that cares mostly about protecting the smallfolk and has recovered his faith only recently. Reflecting their attitudes, Melisandre dresses in bright, uniform red robes, while Thoros wears faded pinkish or maroon clothes. |
| 142 | * The parallels between Ned and Robb's deaths. Ned's fall was caused by his unyielding devotion to honor, but his last act before his death was dishonoring himself by lying about being a traitor. Robb's fall was caused by him following his heart over his head, and his last moments were watching the woman he loved die in front of him. Both father and son sacrificed everything for an ideal (Ned honor, Robb love), but had it taken away from them before they died. |
| 143 | * The box that Ramsay sends Balon does not just have the Greyjoy ensign carved on -- it is actually made out of Theon's Ironborn armor, as revealed by its distinctive hinges. This way, Ramsay is offering proof that he has Theon and that what is inside the box really belonged to him. |
| 144 | * In the episode "Second Sons", Mero tells Daenerys "I swear I fucked you once in a pleasure house in Lys." Jorah tells him to mind his tongue with particular anger. While the comment is already an insult, it would also strike close to home for Jorah, whose second wife [[AllThereInTheManual left him to become a concubine in Lys]] and resembles Daenerys. Mero might even be talking about the same woman. |
| 145 | * The change of Robb's wife's character from Jeyne Westerling (a lesser lordly house under the Lannisters) to Talisa Maegyr (a Volantene noble daughter turned itinerant field nurse) adds another layer to why the Northern lords would have been upset at Robb marrying her. Not only is Robb's wife not from the North, she's not even from ''Westeros.'' The Northmen are known to be proud of their heritage -- often to a fault -- so for most of the Northmen it probably had as much or more to do with [[FantasticRacism Talisa being Essosi]] than it did about the tactical implications of upsetting Lord Walder - who [[TheFriendNobodyLikes nobody was overly thrilled about having to ally with in the first place.]] Especially given that ''no one'' could have forseen his revenge plot coming -- or Roose Bolton betraying them in a power grab, for that matter. Guys like the Blackfish or the Greatjon certainly wouldn't have stood for it. |
| 146 | * In the finale, while talking to Sansa, Tyrion casually says "anyone named Desmond Crakehall has to be a pervert." This is a MythologyGag, as in the books, the Crakehalls (albeit mostly the women) are notorious for their [[ReallyGetsAround promiscuity.]] |
| 147 | * The Beautiful Death art for this season: |
| 148 | ** Episode 1: Theon's massacre of the Northmen is represented by a map of the North being set on fire. A howling wolf's head is also visible in the smoke, signaling Robb's anger and grief at his adopted brother's betrayal. |
| 149 | ** Episode 2: The negative space formed by the leaves of the weirwood trees forms the shape of a person's head in profile, presumably Bran's. |
| 150 | ** Episode 3: A man made of snow is seen in the space created by the heads of the dead horses around him. |
| 151 | ** Episode 5: Grey Wind chews up the Karstark banner with blood dripping from his jaws, symbolizing Robb's breaking of ties with the Karstarks as he executes Rickard Karstark for killing two young Lannister hostages. |
| 152 | ** Episode 6: The quote for this Beautiful Death is Littlefinger's saying, "Chaos isn't a pit; chaos is a ladder." The body of Ros is seen in profile, riddled with a series of arrows that look like the rungs of a ladder. |
| 153 | ** Episode 7: |
| 154 | *** The bars of the window are formed by the blades of swords. |
| 155 | *** The seven-pointed star in the window represents the Faith of the Seven, but at the bottom of the image, only six candles are lit, with a space in the middle. This could be a MythologyGag referring to the books, where people very rarely light candles for the Stranger, or a LampshadeHanging that there were no deaths in this episode (i.e. no candle for the Stranger, the god of death). |
| 156 | ** Episode 8: The dragonglass dagger in the center of the picture is the one that Sam used to kill the White Walker. |
| 157 | ** Episode 9: A musician draped in chainmail is playing a cello with sound holes shaped like Lannister lions and "strings" of blood dripping from the bow, visually evoking Catelyn Stark's throat being slit. |
| 158 | ** Episode 10: Arya's hands, as well as the neck of the man on the iron coin, are covered in blood. Her other kills before this episode were done in self-defense or for survival, but her hands are bloody because this is the first time she has killed someone in pursuit of revenge (a Frey soldier who boasted about desecrating her brother Robb's body). [[StartOfDarkness It won't be the last, either.]] |
| 159 | * The Unsullied are eunuchs, and it tends to come up as a bit of fridge logic: castrating a prepubescent boy would make him a below-average soldier, since he'd grow to an adult size just fine, but without the onset of puberty, he'll never build muscle mass the way an adult man could. So why do it? Because the Unsullied reputation as an army comes from their '''obedience''', not their physical strength. No puberty means no testosterone, no testosterone means no distracting sexual needs and no base drive to distinguish himself, and (perhaps most importantly) ''no teenage rebellion phase''. They are an army of boys who obey as children do, and that's why ten Unsullied are probably worth more than any ship that ferries them. |
| 160 | ** Girls go through teenage rebellious phases too. Also, ambition doesn't solely come from testosterone. |
| 161 | *** Taking a little artistic license with your biology there. A '''MALE''' can't go through puberty without testicles, and "ambition" and "base animal drive to establish independence" are not at all the same thing. |
| 162 | ** Keep in mind, the ''average'' soldier in a land heavily inspired by medieval Eurasia would be levied from among the common folk when (and only when) war was necessary. Keeping a full-time army was more than most lords could afford. Meaning most of them would be farmers or perhaps merchants for most of their lives and wouldn't be trained much if at all until the moment someone stuck a spear in their hand and basically gave them Jon's "stick them with the pointy end" speech. So aside from your freaks of nature like the Cleganes (who, let's keep in mind, were minor nobility with all the attendant advantages), the gap between each individual soldier in an Unsullied army and each individual levy wouldn't actually be all that big. Not to mention the spear was a weapon with an extremely low barrier to entry. Even massively long spears like the ''sarissa'' (which can exceed 15 feet[=/=]5 meters in length) didn't get above 14 pounds (6.5kg). With a good weapon, it takes far less strength than you'd think to penetrate the very basic armor a levy would wear and kill them if you know what you're doing. And since the Unsullied have been brutally and slavishly drilled from preadolescence to manhood and do little else ''except'' fight, each will know what he is doing - and then some. |
| 163 | |
| 164 | [[AC:Season 4]] |
| 165 | * In "Two Swords," Gray Worm and Daario are competing to see who gets to ride with Daenerys. Simple enough, but it's odd that Gray Worm cares as much as Daario, who is utterly infatuated with Dany. Flash forward a few episodes and you realize Gray Worm has feelings for Missandei, who is always by Dany's side. He wasn't competing to ride with Dany, but Missy. |
| 166 | * The recasting of Dean-Charles Chapman from Martyn Lannister to Tommen Baratheon makes total sense in a way beyond convenience. Lannisters all seem to have StrongFamilyResemblance anyway, and Martyn is Tommen's first cousin once removed on [[{{Twincest}} both sides.]] (Never mind that his parents, who are twin siblings, are themselves the result of a union between two first cousins.) So for two members of this family to strongly resemble each other to that extent isn't actually that far-fetched. [[note]]In the books, for example, a Lannister cousin of Myrcella's is sent with her to Dorne specifically because the two resemble each other enough for the Lannister cousin to serve as Myrcella's body double. The two weren't even as closely related as Martyn and Tommen, as the Lannister girl came from a cadet branch of the family.[[/note]] |
| 167 | * Whenever Pycelle is speaking when Tywin is around, look at Tywin and you'll see him trying his best to hide an open sneer and often looking about. The reason is that in a deleted scene from Season 3, Tywin makes it clear he knows full well that Pycelle is faking being a doddering old man, which Pycelle confirms (this was also hinted at earlier, where he puts on the act with Ros, but then stands up quite nimbly after she leaves). Tywin openly asked "am I the only one who sees through this performance?" With that knowledge, you can enjoy these scenes more as Tywin is fighting not to openly gape at how everyone else buys Pycelle's act. |
| 168 | * When Walda Bolton arrives at the Dreadfort in "The Lion and the Rose", her dress is surprisingly drab for a lady. However, in the next scene Roose comments that he had to be smuggled into his own land, explaining their nondescript attire. |
| 169 | * The Lannisters' use of "The Rains of Castamere" as a BadassBoast becomes ironic in this season. The song is from the Reyne's point of view, lamenting the [[PrideBeforeAFall pride that precipitated their fall]]. However, the Lannisters themselves are the most prideful of houses, which causes them serious setbacks in this season as their behavior starts to catch up with them. This culminates in "The Children," where the song plays after Tywin is killed by his own son. |
| 170 | * Foreshadowing for the events of the Purple Wedding: |
| 171 | ** As the septon says his words at Joffrey and Margery's wedding ceremony, the camera lingers on various main characters. When the septon says, "Cursed be he who would seek to tear them asunder", the camera pans in a way that subtly highlights Joffrey's murderer -- Olenna Tyrell. This even plays further come Season 6, when the Green Trial, once again involving the Lannisters and Tyrells, see Cersei virtually wipe out her House. One wonders if, despite us rooting for her, Olenna was cursed by her actions [[LastOfHisKind to be the last of the family]] she tried to protect all her life. |
| 172 | ** Olenna Tyrell fusses over Sansa, adjusting her hair and her necklace. When done, a stone is missing from the right side, but Olenna hides its new asymmetry by draping Sansa's braid asymmetrically as well. |
| 173 | ** Olenna's comment about the Red Wedding, "Killing a man at a wedding... horrid! What sort of monster would do such a thing?" |
| 174 | * When Olenna admits her actions to Margaery, she adjusts Margaery's necklace, just like she did Sansa's. |
| 175 | * The revelation in "Oathkeeper" of the secret alliance between the Tyrells and Littlefinge] gives their interactions in Season 3 a lot of edge. Olenna tells Cersei in "And Now His Watch Has Ended" that, ''"We mothers do what we can to keep our sons from the grave, but they do seem to yearn for it."'' Likewise Varys warning Olenna about Littlefinger probably set her wheels turning as to who will be the right man to pull off a regicide. And Olenna's meeting with Tywin where at first it seems like the old Lion had the upper hand, seeing it again its hard to see it as anything other than Lady Olenna laughing herself silly at Tywin's presumption. |
| 176 | * In "Kissed by Fire", Lady Olenna was quick to foot half the bill for the Royal Wedding. This hints at her wanting the wedding to proceed at any cost to pull off the regicide. Also, since she's in cahoots with Littlefinger, she knows how desperate for money the Lannisters are (as former Master of Coin and the one responsible for borrowing large sums of money from the Iron Bank, Littlefinger knows the crown's finances very well). |
| 177 | * With the revelation that the Lannisters are basically broke, Oberyn's taunt to Tywin that Prince Doran has the "rich man's disease" (gout) and remarks it's a wonder that Tywin doesn't have it as well is much more cutting in hindsight. |
| 178 | * Sansa's new dress after her conversation with Littlefinger about why she lied for him at the inquest has a [[IHaveBoobsYouMustObey plunging neckline]], fits to the curves of the [[StatuesqueStunner Lady Stark]] and obviously is made to keep a firmer hold on Lord Baelish's attention. Yet with the dyed hair to hide her identity and black feathers exhibiting a [[AnimalMotifs likeness to Littlefinger's sigil the mockingbird]], Sansa is also fully delving into her identity as his niece Alayne Stone. You could even say she's killing two birds with one stone. For bonus points, her new bird theme also references Sandor Clegane's nickname for her-"Little Bird." |
| 179 | * When Oberyn and Tyrion discuss how Cersei makes her lies sound sincere, Tyrion admits "Making honest feelings do dishonest work is one of her many gifts." Later on, this is exactly what Sansa does when she relates her honest feelings of hatred at the Lannisters for humiliating her and her happiness at being liberated from King's Landing to do the dishonest work of enabling Westeros' most duplicitous man. |
| 180 | * Sansa's rather outlandish new outfit looks like something a Disney villain would wear, but it's exactly the type of thing a teenager would create to feel sultry and wicked. |
| 181 | * The events in Moat Cailin are pretty much a mirror image of what happened in Winterfell two seasons earlier. A troop of Ironborn trapped in a besieged castle. A commander who refuses surrender, rather seeking to die fighting. The commander betrayed by his subordinates. The Ironborn taking the offer of surrender and instead being skinned alive on Ramsey Snow's order. Must have been like a deja vu for poor Theon/Reek. |
| 182 | * In "The Mountain and the Viper", Oberyn refuses to wear a helmet and claims that a man is useless when flat on his back. Both assumptions prove crucial to his defeat when his head is crushed by the prone Gregor. |
| 183 | * In "The Children", Tyrion knows about the secret passage to the Hand's chambers because Varys gave him a map of all the secret passages of King's Landing in preparation for the Battle of Blackwater, way back in Season 2. Talk about a subtle ChekhovsGun. |
| 184 | * Also from "The Watchers on the Wall" there's a callback to Bronn's advice about using fire during a siege. The Night's Watch have fire as one of their weapons-a barrel gets stuck and explodes, killing a few men. |
| 185 | * In the episode "The Mountain and the Viper", Tyrion and Jaime discuss the various terms for different types of murder (regicide, infanticide, etc.) Tyrion wonders if there's a type of murder that hasn't been named, and Jaime immediately replies "cousin killing". His immediate response makes complete sense when you realize that, in the second season, he murdered his distant cousin in order to escape from Robb Stark. What at first seems to be a cold-blooded killing that is never remarked upon again turns out to be something that Jaime still holds onto and thinks about. |
| 186 | * In [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ae/d0/f4/aed0f4380d480e2edc6b3a71292821c3.jpg this]] piece of official art for "The Children", Tyrion is casting a massive shadow over the corpse of Tywin, who looks tiny in comparison (due to the painting's perspective), after shooting him. It brings to mind Varys' saying, "A small man can cast a very large shadow." |
| 187 | |
| 188 | [[AC:Season 5]] |
| 189 | * Tyrene's MsFanservice bit with Bronn makes more sense in context when you realize that accelerating Bronn's heart rate also helped the poison spread. |
| 190 | * Back in Season 2, Jorah has a conversation with Quaithe of Asshai while she tattoos a man's back with magical protective symbols because he's planning to sail near Valyria. Later on Jorah sails through Valyria without any such protection and gets infected with greyscale. |
| 191 | * In "The Dance of Dragons," we see that the great fighting pit's outer walls have massive harpy statues with smashed faces. As we saw earlier, all symbols of the slavers have been knocked down, but apparently the fighting pit's statues are load-bearing and could not be completely removed, requiring a compromise. |
| 192 | * In "The Dance of Dragons," Hizdahr states that Meereen has been around before Daenerys and will remain long after they are all dead. Tyrion responds by saying that his father would have liked Hizdahr. We've heard Tywin say very similar things about family, such as: "All of us dead, all of us rotting underground. It's the family name that lives on." |
| 193 | * After taking up worship of R'hllor, Stannis added a burning heart around the stag of House Baratheon on his arms. So far, he has invoked R'hllor to kill two members of House Baratheon: his brother and his daughter, the latter by literally burning her alive while she clutches a stag. |
| 194 | * When the small council starts to criticize the High Septon for attending Petyr Baelish's brothel, Grand Maester Pycelle angrily snaps that a man's private business should stay private. We've seen Pycelle frequenting Baelish's prostitutes in previous seasons. |
| 195 | * When Jorah storms the fighting pit in "The Gift," he takes down each pit fighter non-lethally, even though he's armed with a sword. This is because just beforehand, he watched Daenerys react with disgust toward the bloodshed and move to leave. Rushing out into the fray and using non-lethal force ensured that she would not leave before he could speak to her. |
| 196 | * When Azor Ahai was chosen to lead in the war against darkness he forged a hero's sword, but tempering it in water or lion's blood only made it shatter. When he stabbed his wife in the heart with the sword, her soul was bonded to the blade, creating a sword of living flame called Lightbringer that he used to save the realm. Stannis, who Melisandre has prophesied as Azor Ahai reborn, makes several failed attempts at fulfilling his supposed destiny. When all other options are exhausted he sacrifices his daughter, Shireen, to R'hllor in exchange for victory against the Boltons. Like Azor Ahai, Stannis had to make the ultimate sacrifice for the greater good of his cause. |
| 197 | * The episode "Sons of the Harpy" reveals that Rhaegar is good at playing the harp. At the same time, the episode has the most blatant Foreshadowings of the identity of Rhaergar's son. |
| 198 | * In "Hardhome," When Olly talks to Sam about Jon's plan, Sam tells him that sometimes people have to make hard choices that seem wrong at the time but are better in the long run. Olly processes the words, but does not lighten up. In a later episode, Olly will help betray Jon, an action that seems wrong in the moment, but he feels is better in the long run. In the same conversation, Sam tells Olly not to worry about Jon because "he always comes back!" In a later episode, Jon comes back from the dead. |
| 199 | |
| 200 | [[AC:Season 6]] |
| 201 | * In Episode 4, Ramsay is skinning an apple when Osha arrives. He sets the skin aside and tries to intimidate her with the fact that he skins his enemies, but she says that she's "seen worse" because he doesn't eat the remains. After killing her, he starts skinning a new apple... and eats the skin. |
| 202 | * Littlefinger's gift of a falcon to Robin Arryn is doubly meaningful. Falcons are the symbol of House Arryn, and Robin has always displayed an unhealthy interest in seeing things "fly." Also the falcon is caged, just as Littlefinger has the Vale's Lord completely under his control. |
| 203 | * In Episode 4, "Book of the Stranger," Jon has discarded his original black Night's Watch clothing for something a little familiar. He is now wearing the exact same armor as Ned did in the flashbacks in "Oathbreaker," and as Robb wore during Season 3. |
| 204 | * After Jon is resurrected, he is asked about the experience. He can only answer that there's nothing. Jon Snow literally knows nothing. |
| 205 | * Initially, Theon was a proud idiot with family issues, with potential for greatness but always fell short. Then he was castrated, and utterly broken mentally and physically, becoming the weak "Reek". How did he reclaim his Theon self? By killing Myranda (and saving Sansa in the process) to atone for his sins. He reclaimed his honor ''by paying the Iron Price''. The soundtrack even realizes this: As Theon kills Myranda and reclaims his identity, the track being played is "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upUnKB6osrY Pay the Iron Price]]". Even better is that Theon was imperfect, then they broke him, then he came back to the Iron Islands, and Theon is now a much better person than he was before. What is the Ironborn motto? "What is dead may never die, but rises again, harder and stronger". Theon was thought dead, being psychologically murdered, but he rose again. Harder and stronger. |
| 206 | * Jaime confesses to the High Sparrow that he killed his king ''and'' his own cousin. Season 4 hinted that Jaime is still affected by murdering his cousin Alton, and this line confirms it. Knowing how much Jaime's regicide has damaged him, bringing it up in the same breath as his cousin-slaying speaks volumes of how he must feel guilty about it. |
| 207 | * There's a certain irony that Theon, who betrayed the Starks and seized Winterfell, and Rickon, one of those Starks who had to leave Winterfell as a result, wind up in the exact same situation: mistaken for dead, betrayed by their allies and handed over to Ramsay. |
| 208 | * In retrospect, Tommen's first answer to his grandfather Tywin's question of "What makes a good king?" "Holiness?" was foreshadowing. |
| 209 | * Most of Tyrion's advice/decisions regarding the ruling of Mereen come from his observations of ruling King's Landing. His main concern is making sure Mereen's people kept faith in Daenerys and kept safe and well-fed, which were drawn from his experience of ruling King's Landing when the people clearly hated him and the Crown while they were besieged and starving. He also advised Dany to set Daario aside before leaving for Westeros, clearing stemming from his own affair with Shae. |
| 210 | * Tyrion's RankUp to the Hand of Queen Danaerys in the Season 6 finale is a direct inversion of his demotion from Hand of King Joffrey at the end of Season 2. Tyrion was granted emergency powers as ruler of Mereen after Danaerys's disappearance, much like he was temporarily granted the position of Hand of the King from Tywin. He was given a city on the brink of disaster and rebellion and managed to stabilize it long enough for an army to swoop in to rescue it, Tywin with the Tyrells and Dany with the Dothraki and her dragons. Dany appreciated Tyrion's efforts and honored him for his services, while Tywin promptly cast him aside and stripped him of his powers the moment the reign of the Lannisters was secure. |
| 211 | * Lyanna Mormont declaring Jon to King of the North carries a whole new meaning with the revelation of who his mother is. Lyanna birthed him and Lyanna put him on the throne. |
| 212 | * Yohn Royce's distaste for allying with the wildlings makes sense when you consider his youngest son Waymar was in the Night's Watch (the leader of the three rangers who were ambushed in the prologue of Season 1). Given that it's not specified whether anyone's figured out the White Walkers killed Waymar (since the testimony of the only surviving witness to the attack was dismissed out of hand), it stands to reason why Lord Royce would be leery of allying with the people he no doubt holds responsible for his son's death. |
| 213 | * Cersei's demolition of the Great Sept of Baelor is incredibly symbolic. First of all, it's an act of mass murder, kinslaying (via Kevan and Lancel Lannister), and an exceedingly stupid position in the long political game. In one fell swoop, she destroyed a symbol of greatness (the grand building was a major part of the King's Landing skyline), piety/holiness/goodness/the royal mandate (the ''sept'' was built by the famously religious Baelor the ''Blessed''), and all of her chances at being a human with emotions rather than a wrath-filled monster (everyone who cared about her is either dead, have rejected her, or both). Cersei had brought a curse upon herself, by becoming exactly the person Jaime had sacrificed his honor to stop. Without political allies, personal relationships, or indeed godly support (if the Seven is playing their own game of thrones with Westerosi society), she is doomed. |
| 214 | ** The kicker? It's not without reason that Cersei can be referred to as the Mad Queen, per Aerys II, but she is a reprise of another infamous Targaryen ruler, Maegor I the Cruel. |
| 215 | *** Maegor burned down the Sept of Remembrance with dragonfire to fight the Faith Militant. Cersei torched the Great Sept of Baelor with wildfire to fight the Faith Militant. |
| 216 | *** Balerion the Black Dread (which burned the aforementioned Sept, and participated in the prior battle of ''Blackwater'') is ridden by Maegor. Cersei's costume change is black, with a silver pattern that almost looks like scales. Also, the anti-dragon ballista was tested upon Balerion's skull. |
| 217 | *** Maegor also backed the Alchemists' Guild in their creation of wildfire. Cersei probably should thank him for that. |
| 218 | ** The "Beautiful Death" poster for this episode is also [[https://66.media.tumblr.com/e2cc43d78eb11b17e2a70477187dcf94/tumblr_o9niccA4WV1tuzdqso1_1280.jpg full of symbolism]]: |
| 219 | *** The pattern of lion heads on Cersei's dress gradually changes into a pattern of skulls. She killed two other Lannisters in this episode--her cousin Lancel and her uncle Kevan. |
| 220 | *** The crown she is holding has points shaped like burning wildfire. Said crown is positioned on top of a skull, representing Tommen's suicide. |
| 221 | *** In the pile of skulls at the bottom are three larger ones. The top one is Tommen, and the bottom two are Loras and Margaery; the left one has a seven-pointed star carved into its forehead. |
| 222 | *** In the background, there are dripping wildfire barrels. |
| 223 | * The Faceless Men aren't forced to give up their names just as an assimilation/brainwashing tactic; it's also an insurance policy! So long as they don't have names, the other Faceless Men can't promise each other to the Many-Faced God during infighting, hence the "Which name would you like a girl to speak?" scene. It's only if someone rejects the Faceless Men and retakes their name, like Arya did implicitly when she ran away, that the others are free to go after them. |
| 224 | * Everyone gets the symbolism of Lyanna Mormont crowning Jon because of her sharing the name of Jon's mother, whether he knows it or not, but there is another level of symbolism if you consider who she is like. Lyanna is a WiseBeyondHerYears child [[BrutalHonesty who is not afraid to share her opinions, even if they are not complimentary to the people she is talking to]], not dissimilar to ''Arya'', herself compared to Lyanna Stark. It's also could also be notable that she initially overlooks Sansa, as Arya and Sansa didn't have a good relationship before their reunion. |
| 225 | * The Dothraki taunt Dany for being a "pink" woman and say that her type "melt" under the harsh sun of the Dothraki Sea, but Dany never shows evidence of a sunburn and maintains her perfectly pale skin tone throughout the series no matter what conditions she's in. This is in comparison to other characters, such as Varys, who do eventually look more tan after spending time in Essos. Dany is established to be immune to heat, so her skin never shows the effects of the sun. |
| 226 | * For all the ways they obviously disliked each other, Cersei actually takes the throne very similarly to how Robert did; simply sitting the Iron Throne and crowning herself at the end of a period of chaos after which a 'mad' king and a successor that likely would have been somewhat better but never had the chance both died in short order, and anyone else that could or would challenge her also conveniently dead. Her power grab also involved the brutal deaths of a brother, sister, and parent from a rival house[[note]]In this case Loras, Margeary, and Mace Tyrell[[/note]] |
| 227 | |
| 228 | [[AC:Season 7]] |
| 229 | * In Episode 1: |
| 230 | ** Sansa's Costume Switch eerily mirrors Cersei's: black and form-fitting, with decorative silver chains and a fabric and pattern reminiscent of some kind of reptilian armor. As a younger character, Sansa was enamored with Queen Cersei and tried to emulate her style of hair and dress. Now, with this new outfit and her admission that she understands how Cersei thinks, she's ''still'' emulating her, if not subsconsciously. In some small dark way, Cersei is Sansa's role model. This does not bode well for Jon... |
| 231 | ** Some found jarring that Arya could flat out admit that she is going to assassinate Cersei in front of several Lannister soldiers and they all laugh it as a joke, instead of taking offense for threaten the Queen. Then one has to remember that at this point, the Lannister family isn't well liked by majority of Westeros to begin with for several reasons (triggering a war on winter's eve, making enemies out of several Great Houses and forcing young men to fight from all sides) and they don't probably don't inspire much loyalty in the conscript soldiers who are {{Punch Clock Villain}}s, to discipline a girl during their break who for all they know is just making a silly joke and have no idea she is fully intending to carry out her threat. And given that at least half of Westeros would like to see Cersei dead at this point, Arya's remark to the soldiers probably doesn't rate anything more to them than a "Yeah, yeah, get in line." |
| 232 | ** The song "Hands of Gold" is taken from the novels where it refers to Tyrion's relationship with Shae, and the man who writes it is killed off before it spreads, with only Tyrion personally remembering it. In the show, however, it was likely composed about Jaime's relationship with Cersei. |
| 233 | * In Episode 2: |
| 234 | ** Qyburn reveals to Cersei the secret weapon the Lannisters intend to use against Daenerys's dragons: a ballista. [[GeniusBonus Those that study a bit of history of weapons will take note of the fact that the ballista's general design was eventually shrunk down to hand-size, into a category of weapons we know as crossbows]]. You ''could'' say that the ballista was the "mother" of the crossbow. What was the one weapon Cersei's son, Joffrey, ever killed anyone with, again? This also highlights the fact that Joffrey, while he was certainly an ineffective ruler in addition to being an evil prick, still operated largely on a childish level. He was TheKidWithTheRemoteControl. And even that was severely limited after Tywin arrived. Joffrey will kick a few puppies (figurative and literal), threaten and try to order violence, and gets to kill one or two people from a distance, really doing what suits him with no rhyme or reason. Cersei typically has a plan -- or something in her head that sounds to her like a plan. Cersei is evil enough to blow up a several-city-block space and effectively carpet bomb a national monument with you and your associates inside for pissing her off a little bit. If you piss her off a lot, she'll strap you to a table in the lowest dungeon, waterboard you for a few minutes, and then have a silent-but-perpetually-pissed-off zombie-giant rape you over and over again until you're dead. Joffrey, as cruel (and sometimes as story-altering) as his few decisions proved to be, never pulled anything that extreme. Then in Season 8, Cersei is (at least nominally) Queen Regnant over the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, and deploys ballistae in an ambush that kills a dragon. |
| 235 | *** More prosaically, why Westeros had crossbows but not ballistae until Qyburn invented them: the Targaryens, back when dragons and dragonriders were the backbone of their military power, would have had a vested interest in keeping anyone from inventing something that could level that playing feild. Crossbows may have even started as small-scale tests for something that could kill a dragon, under the guise of being just a personal weapon instead of a proof-of-concept for a tool to commit treason and usurp the ruling dynasty. |
| 236 | ** Lady Olenna gives advice to Daenerys to not listen to "clever men" and to "be a dragon". This is advice Daenerys takes to heart later on...however, this advice ends up getting Daenerys into severe trouble when she ignores common sense advice. Who else got themselves into severe trouble because she didn't listen to anyone else? ''Olenna''. She ignored signs that the High Sparrow Cersei were bad news until it was too late and it ended up costing her everything. So really it shouldn't come as a big surprise Daenerys ended up as she did because she ignored obvious signs. |
| 237 | * In Episode 3: |
| 238 | ** When Olenna is confessing to Jaime that she planned the assassination of Joffrey, she says that she didn't know ahead of time how messy a death the poison would cause. Back in Season 4, when Olenna was talking to Margaery, she lamented that the death was such a huge spectacle, which might have seemed strange when it was later revealed that Olenna had planned the whole thing. With this new information, it finally makes sense, as even though Olenna had planned the assassination she had expected it to be a lot quicker and cleaner. |
| 239 | ** The Tyrell forces going down completely offscreen and not putting much of a fight struck a chord with many viewers. Then you notice that [[DragonInChief Randyll Tarly]] (the most renowned and experienced military leader in the Reach and the one credited for dealing Robert his only defeat in his Rebellion) was [[TheStarscream assisting the Lannister forces in sacking Highgarden]], which makes their defeat sound more plausible. Also, as Jaime said last episode, most houses only showed up to the meeting because Randyll did, his alliance with the Lannisters convinced the fence sitters to let them take Highgarden. |
| 240 | ** Why did Bran seem so unconcerned with the fact that his sister was raped when mentioning her wedding night? Because viewing so much of the world's history over the eons has broadened his perspective so much that even common crimes, no matter how personally tragic, simply don't matter compared to much more influential events, such as the creation of the White Walkers. Well, either that or he doesn't know. It's entirely possible all he saw was the ceremony. It's all the tree (which he's leaning on during the conversation) saw, after all. |
| 241 | ** Cersei setting up the Sands to not be able to touch has another purpose than psychological torture. Given the whole ICannotSelfTerminate nature of the punishment, it also means Ellaria can't kiss her daughter to get any of the poison on her own lips. |
| 242 | * Cersei abandoning all pretext concerning her incestuous relationship with Jaime at this point makes sense: |
| 243 | ** There's no longer a personal disadvantage to the secret being out. Her reputation would take a hit, but honestly can it be any worse? It's already so well-known that she was responsible to bombing a holy site to get rid of her opponents that smallfolk like Hot Pie working hundreds of miles away are aware of it. If anything, that makes her that much more terrifying. |
| 244 | ** There's no longer a ''political'' disadvantage to the secret being out. Before, she was protecting her sons' claims to the throne, which were only legitimate through them being Robert's heirs. Robert is long dead and so are the children. |
| 245 | ** Part of Cersei's entire character is that her wish to cast off the constraints laid upon her by her gender. Robert, as king, did whatever and ''whoever'' he wanted and made no secret about it because ''he was the godsdamned King and who was going to stop him?'' So it would make perfect sense for Cersei's character to take Jaime (or whoever else she liked) into her bed openly as a pure power move. |
| 246 | * Archmaester Ebrose putting Sam to work copying a bunch of old scrolls might simply be a case of DudeWheresMyRespect, but remember that in order to copy those scrolls, Sam also has to ''read'' them. Ebrose could be pulling a StealthMentor by giving Sam access to learning material he might not otherwise have seen until after months or years of maester training. |
| 247 | * Cersei's handmaiden has completely changed her look, with short hair and a masculine jacket rather than her previous tumbling locks and flowing dress. This is in imitation of Cersei's new style. In real life, royalty often dictated the fashion of the court, and a handmaiden would be the first to support her queen's style. |
| 248 | * Jaime's anger at finding out Olenna had poisoned Joffrey goes beyond his eldest son's death. His brother Tyrion, whom he loved so much was framed for Joffrey's death and Jaime helped him to escape, which led to their father Tywin being assassinated and these two following consequences: Tyrion ended up on the run and became Daenerys' adviser while Cersei's following actions (arming the Faith, blowing up the Sept and all other things) which could have been prevented by Tywin if he was alive. In Jaime's point of view, Olenna was the GreaterScopeVillain to his family, having indirectly cause a chain of events that led to its current state and he now just realized he gave her a peaceful and merciful death. |
| 249 | * Olenna commenting on how Tywin could have just taken over them the moment his mountain ran out of gold makes more sense given how she was always self-depreciative of her house, saying how their alliance with Renly then the Lannisters was stupid, how she ignored every clever man's advice as they are sheep and even mocking the motto for not being as cool as the others. |
| 250 | * The fall of House Tyrell is somewhat karmic if one is familiar with the history of Westeros. House Tyrell became the rulers of the Reach by [[BastardUnderstudy goading the previous rulers]], House Gardener, into attacking the Targaryens and having them wiped out. House Tyrell is in turn betrayed by one of their own bannermen (the Tarlys) and wiped out by incestuous conquerors (the Lannisters). |
| 251 | * The previous seasons have been exploring how the surviving Starks are going beyond their roots; Sansa has to become a manipulative liar to survive, Arya a vengeful killer, Bran the Three Eyed Raven, and Jon a reluctant leader bound to his vows and then recovering from the trauma associated with death and resurrection. They are slowly regaining their old selves as they reunite; at least, Sansa, Jon and Arya are. It also means that they outnumber Littlefinger in four to one, because Arya can see through nonsense and Bran has his powers. |
| 252 | * In Episode 4: |
| 253 | ** While most viewers are frothing over Dany still wanting Jon to genuflect, pay attention to her word choice when Jon reminds her that the North can't tolerate a Southern ruler after enduring defeat by Joffrey's regime and rule under Tommen. "They will if their ''king'' does." Not only does this mark Dany addressing Jon as a fellow monarch for the first time but she is also either: ''very generously'' offering the North autonomy as its own kingdom, while keeping friendship and the promise of mutual aid with the Iron Throne; as Renly offered Cat on Robb's behalf. ''Or'' she was actually hinting that the only thing Jon has to offer in return for the full commitment of her military forces is... a marriage pact. If Jon wants to remain king, he has to bring something to this partnership. Their children inheriting both halves of the continent would be the major incentive Dany needs to defend the North. Bring on the Wedding of Ice and Fire. Their union would also not count as incest since Westeros doesn't bat an eye at first cousins marrying and even aunts and uncles can take their nephews and nieces as partners respectively without incurring the wrath of the gods. Supporting this is also the fact that (depending on your view) it seems the closest advisers of both monarchs (Missandei and Davos) are already subtly [[ShipTease pushing things into that direction]] -- however StrangledByTheRedString it may look like to us. |
| 254 | *** It can also be a sign that Dany really doesn't understand the political realities of the Seven Kingdoms, having never even seen them until she came to conquer them. She assumes that the North invested Jon as King because they implicitly trust his judgement, even to the point of renouncing his kingship by bending the knee. What Jon tries to explain to her is that the North wants its freedom, and named Jon king because they believed he would protect that freedom, thus if he barters it away he will no longer be king and the North will rally around someone else who promises their sovereignty. Dany is highly intelligent and a quick study, but her Achilles' Heel has always been her naievete, and here she may be making one of the classic blunders of royalty in fiction and fact: assuming a monarch's word is immutable truth, when monarchs can be disagreed with, disobeyed, and even deposed, if enough people have a good enough reason to do it. |
| 255 | ** Daenerys more often than not direct Drogon's fire on the wagons instead of the men. Seems like pointless StuffBlowingUp or even counterproductive destruction of rations they could loot, until you consider what else can be in each of those wagons: she was trying to take out any siege (and anti-dragon) weapons before the Lannisters had a chance to use them. |
| 256 | ** A kind of Fridge Heartwarming realization; both this episode and the last make a point that Jon still goes by "Snow," even though he's king and thus capable of legitimizing himself as an official Stark; Stannis offered him that legitimization to go with Winterfell, after all. So why didn't he become Jon Stark? Because a) he didn't proclaim himself king, the North did, so clearly his people don't really care beyond his Stark blood, and b) he doesn't want to usurp his siblings' inheritance or supplant them with his own family line; Sansa is called "Lady Stark," and she herself notes that Bran can claim the title "Lord Stark." Jon is extending his BigBrotherInstinct to include the entirety of the remaining Stark legacy; even if he always desired to be a Stark and Lord of Winterfell, he ''will not'' take that from his loved ones. Out of universe, of course, it also makes sense because Jon's not just a Stark, thanks to his Targaryen father. |
| 257 | ** Some people find it still irritating that even Jon tells Dany not to burn down the Red Keep, largely echoing Tyrion's arguments even though, as an educated military man, he should see the potential strategic benefits. But that's not the end of their conversation. The scene cuts away as he finishes saying that unleashing the dragons on a population center would be what any would be tyrant would do, but he almost certainly then continued to point out the obvious regarding the sacking of Highgarden; Cersei's army had to be in the field, and thus ''totally exposed''. And any military commander would recognize that the army would be a far weaker target than the entrenched capital; not only is there absolutely nowhere for soldiers to take shelter from dragonfire, for all the good stone walls would do them against that kind of heat, there's no city for Lannister forces to fall back to, eliminating the probability of Dany having to either turn her dragon or unleash the Dothraki against a civilian population. |
| 258 | *** Even further, Jon, like Jaime, would have been made to memorize every castle, town, and major pathway in Westeros, and thus likely to correctly pinpoint the location of Cersei's forces; he may even have advised where on the Blackwater Rush to attack the army. And if he had an education in military history (which he had in the books), he may also see how Dany is better equipped for a "Field of Fire" victory than a "Harrenhal" one; the former victory enabled Aegon to subdue two kingdoms at once and was the result of strictly military action, while the latter was the endgame of a diplomatic maneuver to get the Riverlands behind him first, then eliminate the competition. Dany hasn't done the political groundwork for a castle melting, but none is needed for a second Field of Fire. |
| 259 | ** At first glance what Dany says to Jon in the cave about whether his pride is worth more to him than the safety of his people seems to reference back to the things Jon said to Mance in Season 5 when trying to persuade him to kneel to Stannis. But in addition to this, while neither Dany nor Jon appear to realize it at the time, her words far more accurately describe ''herself'' than Jon. Jon is not refusing to kneel out of pride, in fact he didn't want to be king at all, and he came down to Dragonstone to plead to her for help (which doesn't scream "pride" but rather "I want to save my people") and he knows that kneeling to her is likely to lose him the support of his people and thereby his chances of leading them to victory against the Night King. Dany, on the other hand, is demanding that he bend the knee to her for no real reason other than that it hurts her pride that he refuses to acknowledge her claim to the throne -- which in Westeros at this point rests solely on birthright, since she hasn't had a chance to prove herself worthy yet. If she does believe him about the White Walkers then ''she'' is the one putting her pride above the survival of everyone in Westeros (if not the world). |
| 260 | ** Daenerys ''could'' have won the Battle of the Blackwater Rush with only the Dothraki, but she used Drogon anyways, inflicting a truly hellish curb-stomping on the Lannister forces. Leaving aside the CatharsisFactor and pragmatic concerns (sparing as many of her own much-needed warriors as possible), this choice also serves a higher purpose: it's a crude but effective way of TalkingThroughTechnique. It's been over a century since a Targaryen DragonRider last took to the field. The ''idea'' of a dragon is scary, yes, and any commander worth their salt will be familiar with the strategies involved in Aegon's Conquest, but it's still largely an abstract in the mind of the general public. Dramatically incinerating the soldiers at the Rush sends a clear message to ''everyone'' in the conflict, rank-and-file and commanders alike: "I could easily obliterate any of you if I so wished. Raise arms against me and you will die screaming." Many a bannerman is likely to have second thoughts about continuing to serve the Lannister cause; Cersei, for all her cruelty, is going to be hard-pressed to be [[TheMobBossIsScarier scarier than actual dragons]]. |
| 261 | * In Episode 5, Brienne is one of the few characters to have a Valyrian steel sword, and really knows how to use it. While she could've joined Jon's group in finding a wight, she was also tasked in a previous episode with training new soldiers for the upcoming invasion. Plus, given the fact that the atmosphere among the northern lords is rather poisonous, Sansa may need her protection. |
| 262 | * In Episode 6: |
| 263 | ** In "Hardhome", Loboda dies instantly from a stab to the midsection, falling down flat without a scream. Add how his axe shattered at the mere contact of the spear and it gives a good idea about what happened to Viserion's insides. |
| 264 | ** Thoros died the way he lived, drenched in alcohol. Alcohol also makes it easier for people to die of hypothermia, due to it lowering their core body temperature. Thoros was the only person who was constantly drinking on the trip, and the only one who froze to death. |
| 265 | ** When Daenerys sees Jon on the ship at the end of the episode and sees him covered in wounds, it is very reminiscent of Khal Drogo. Throughout the season, she was fixated on Davos's FreudianSlip about Jon taking a knife for his own people, something she remembered was Drogo's downfall when he left a knife wound untreated, allowing it to fester and ruin him. She also tried to invoke a blood magic ritual to resurrect Drogo, and that failed leading her to revive dragons via HumanSacrifice of Miri Maaz Duur. So, her attraction to Jon Snow stems partly from being handsome and sincere, and enigmatic but also as a ReplacementGoldfish in that he survived and returned to life in a manner just like her FirstLove failed to do so. Miri Maaz Duur said "Only death can pay for life". |
| 266 | ** Jon is also a CompositeCharacter of the multiple men Dany has attracted and felt attraction to, as she points out to Tyrion by listing the foolish heroic types she has met: |
| 267 | *** Like Khal Drogo, Jon is the elected leader of his people, who leads by AsskickingLeadsToLeadership and is by Westerosi standards a BarbarianHero (he leads an army of Wildlings, introduces new policies and ideas which they see as anathema, he is a bastard, the North is seen as a harsher and more savage land with harsher and more savage people by the rest of the Seven Kingdoms). |
| 268 | *** Like Daario Naharis, Jon tends to be disrespectful and even mocking of Dany's royal hauteur and presumption, being one of the few who is not easily impressed with her titles and lineage alone, which Dany tends to mock and rebuke in public, but privately (or not so privately) finds a turn-on. Also like Daario, Jon is a capable warrior with style and elan, and a man of wit, charm, and humor. Unlike Daario, he's not an insufferable prick about it. |
| 269 | *** Like Jorah, Jon is from the North of Westeros, and given Jon's connection to Jorah's father Jeor, he is more or less, in Dany's eyes, what Mormont ''should have been'': young, handsome, his honor never lost or stained, and someone who rather than indulge in slavery contrary to Northern traditions, brought the Wildlings into the Seven Kingdoms contrary to Northern traditions, while also being the same age as she, truly becoming her equal in a way that neither Jorah or her other beaus could be. |
| 270 | ** Tormund tells the Hound "they" said he was mean. Who is they? Well, Beric tells Jon that Tormund told him that Jon had been resurrected, so Tormund probably meant Thoros and Beric. |
| 271 | ** Jon was returned to Daenerys by a horse, the de-facto sigil of the Dothraki which was once led by Dany's late husband. |
| 272 | ** Jon is finally reunited with his long-lost maternal uncle only for him to perform a HeroicSacrifice so Jon could return to the woman who unbeknownst to him is his paternal aunt, who in turn is also unaware of their relation. Said uncle and aunt are also the youngest among their respective siblings. |
| 273 | * How did Tyrion get word to Bronn to arrange the meeting with Jaime? Varys probably still has access to his network of little birds. How did Cersei find out? Same way. Qyburn has access to the same group of orphaned kids running around King's Landing. |
| 274 | * Benjen abruptly arriving to save Jon seems like a DeusExMachina, but consider Benjen previously mentions undermining the White Walkers from this side of the wall. Could he have blended into the Wight army being the only person "alive" they wouldn't ever detect? |
| 275 | * Ser Jorah dispatches the polar bear wight by flanking it and then stabbing it in the ear with a dagger. The Mormont ancestral land is Bear Island, so named because many bears dwell in the woods. He probably learned at a very early age how to take down a bear quickly. |
| 276 | * In Episode 7: |
| 277 | ** A small one, for dramatic irony: For her escape from King's Landing, Littlefinger had Sansa meet multiple times with Ser Dontos Hollard in KL Godswood, because they can speak and plot freely in there, safe from spies (Varys' little birds can't hide in the walls when there are no walls to hide in). The reunion of Stark children is in godswood. If Littlefinger had a spy there during their conversation, he would have realized his plot would have never worked from their family dynamic. Arya and Bran do not care to rule. When Bran offers Arya the knife, she asks him if he is absolutely sure he wants to give it to her, which proves that she actually cares about their feelings. Even if Sansa offered Arya to be a Lady of Winterfell, Arya would have asked her multiple times if she is sure, because she doesn't even like the idea of being a Lady. Funniest part? Littlefinger taught Sansa that trick. |
| 278 | *** It goes even deeper than that. If you consider that Littlefinger can listen to everything happening in Winterfell but can't see behind closed doors, things get really interesting. After Arya's return, in the crypts, we can see and Littlefinger or his spy can hear Arya ask Sansa if she has to call her Lady Stark now, as if that was a position she wanted. Then comes the scene in Godswood, where no spies can be present. Then we and Littlefinger can see Arya beat Sansa's sworn shield in single combat, which Baelish would consider a power move, but Arya considered sparring. Then we and Littlefinger can see Arya argue with Sansa about the letter in the courtyard. And the final conversation, which made Littlefinger certain that his plan is working? Arya's conversation about game of Faces, in which she threatens Sansa that she could kill her, wear her dresses and rule in her form. LF can hear that but he can't see inside the room. He can't see that Arya had offered her dagger to Sansa at the end of that conversation. He (or his spy) can only see that Arya got out of that room pleased with herself and that Sansa got out upset and worried. And the first hint it is not working? Sansa asking Baelish if he thinks Arya would make a power move. Instead of trying to reconcile Sansa with her sister, he fans the flames further. This conversation shows to Sansa quite clearly that he doesn't have her best interest at heart. |
| 279 | * In Episode 3, Jon's plain title "King in the North" contrasted with Dany's many [[TryToFitThatOnABusinessCard grandiose titles]] is PlayedForLaughs, but is also a {{Deconstruction}} of ModestRoyalty. As Melisandre mused in her character chapter from ''[[Literature/ADanceWithDragons A Dance With Dragons]]'', eschewing the trappings of power is itself a kind of arrogance which undermines ones authority. Since Jon was too modest to assume any title other than the one given to him, he comes off as much less important than Dany and therefore is at a disadvantage during their initial negotiation. |
| 280 | * In Episode 7, Euron Greyjoy insults both Tyrion and Theon during the Dragonpit Meeting and stirs tensions among the group that makes even Cersei to order him to stand down. It's revealed much later that Cersei ''planned'' to have Euron leave the meeting early so he can sail to Essos to get the Golden Company for her. Euron being an asshole during the meeting was him trying to find an excuse to get kicked out by Cersei, though he did get another convenient excuse anyway when Jon presented the wight. Either way, Euron was planning to leave the meeting early all along. |
| 281 | * Aegon the Conqueror effortlessly defeated Reach and Western lords with his dragons while the Northern king bent the knee. The same thing happened when his distant descendant Daenerys came to Westeros for the same purpose. |
| 282 | * When Bran creeps out Littlefinger with the "chaos is a ladder" line, Littlefinger's apparent lack of reaction has been criticized... but what logical conclusion should he reach from this? Littlefinger being himself, with what he knows, would not deduce that Bran is all-knowing medium. He'd assume Bran to be in contact with the only other person who heard his "chaos is a ladder" speech: Varys. This should certainly raise his suspicions, and make him afraid that Bran could expose his true character, but it would not give him the whole picture. Now, at the trial, when Bran tells him word for word "I did warn you not to trust me", just as Baelish told Ned Stark back in Season 1, that seals the deal. That's when Baelish does his actual "oh shit" face, because that line has not been heard by anyone besides Ned, and Ned has been dead for a long time. |
| 283 | * Bran didn't actually give a warning sign to Littlefinger ahead of the trial, he only misled him on purpose. |
| 284 | * In a case of DramaticIrony, Viserys, who called himself "the dragon", died by having molten gold poured on his head. A true Targaryen with fire resistance would not have been killed this way, since fire can't kill a dragon. Viserion, his namesake and an actual dragon, is killed with an ice spear. Each is killed in the way they themselves believe to be invincible: Viserys from fire and Viserion by ice. |
| 285 | |
| 286 | [[AC:Season 8]] |
| 287 | * In the opening sequence, the White Walkers' advance into the North is represented by the tiles of the game board flipping over blue. If the Game of Thrones is an RPG-style Tabletop Game, then this is the "Outside Invaders"-style Expansion Pack clicking into place. |
| 288 | * Why is Arya initially suspicious of Jon? He was dead the last time she heard about him. For all she knows, the Jon she is seeing right now could be a faceless man. Though she becomes less suspicious when he examines Needle, since it was their secret. |
| 289 | * When Jon and Ned parted in Season 1, Episode 2, Ned told him that the next time Jon saw him he'd be a man grown and Jon would learn about his mother. Where does Sam choose to tell Jon about Lyanna? In front of Ned's statue in the crypt. |
| 290 | * It has only been a while since the High Sparrows got deposed. Brothels are only starting to spring up again. This is why the quality of service is so low that Bronn gets served by a girl with an STD. |
| 291 | * Arya and Gendry finally getting together - the GenerationXerox of Lyanna Stark gets to make love to the hammer-wielding bastard son of Robert Baratheon, achieving something that neither Robert nor Lyanna got to do in the previous generation. |
| 292 | ** This is also a callback to the very first episode, when Robert Baratheon offered to betroth Joffrey to Sansa to join his house with Ned Stark's. Now the biological son of Robert Baratheon is hooking up with the ''other'' Stark daughter, which means that Robert's wish might just get fulfilled after all. |
| 293 | * Sansa’s coolness to Dany in episodes 1 and 2 has been partly attributed to the colourful and official Stark and Targaryen family history, which is likely. However, Sansa outright admits she’s concerned that Jon’s letting his heart overrule his head. She’s worried her older brother is endangering his crown because of his feelings for a ‘foreign queen’, alienating their allies who don’t trust or support her (Dany), in a move that might cost the North and its people. Sound familiar? Given that she was in King’s Landing at the time of the Red Wedding (and probably heard a lot about it given who she was surrounded by), she’s likely much more conscious of the causes than her siblings. Sansa’s worried about Jon repeating Robb's fatal mistake. |
| 294 | * The Sansa-Daenerys dynamic is given an extra dimension by the physicality of the actors. Sophie Turner is tall and statuesque, and Emilia Clarke is cherubic and petite. There's almost a foot of difference between them. It makes sense from Sansa's perspective that she's not going to intimidated in the slightest by this tiny blonde girl who thinks she can come into her house and tell her what to do. |
| 295 | * Rhaegal holds his own so well in the fight against undead Viserion because the latter has been decaying for a good while now. There are visible holes in his wings, so his body structure is certainly not as strong as than a living dragon. There's also the fact that dragons are intelligent creatures with feelings. Rhaegal is fighting like hell because he wants to put his late brother to rest. |
| 296 | ** Why does Jon last as long as he does with the undead Viserion? It's because Viserion has been burning all the corpses surrounding him, preventing them from being raised as wights and keeping any functioning wights away from helping him. |
| 297 | * The Night King uses Viserion against Jon and Dany and their dragons, and only sparingly uses his fire against the living defenders at Winterfell. He anticipated large losses and decided to let as many living and dead bodies as possible remain unburnt so that he could have a fresh supply of wights when the time was right. |
| 298 | * Beric's mission in being revived so many times makes a lot more sense in hindsight. He was being revived until he could meet Arya, for he helped guide her path further along indirectly leading her to to Sandor and then eventually to being trained by the Faceless Men. On a more obvious note, he protects her in this episode until he dies so she's able to get her HeroicSecondWind in and kill the Night King. |
| 299 | ** Melisandre's actions also take on a different light. She always ''was'' fulfilling the prophecy of the Prince That Was Promised, just in a far more roundabout fashion than she initially thought. |
| 300 | ** It also explains the Brotherhood selling Gendry to Melisandre. Not only was his king's blood valuable for her king-killing rituals, but his loss contributed to Arya feeling isolated and desperate enough to flee to Braavos. |
| 301 | ** When Melisandre talks with Arya in Winterfell, she implies that [[TheChessmaster the Many-Faced God is using the world as his chess board]] to put Arya (who's evidently the Queen) in the right place and the right moment to use her to kill the Night King. Everything abode? To put her in the way to the Faceless Men. Resurrecting Jon and him being crowned King in the North? Using him as a bait to make Arya travel to Winterfell. Jaquen's presence in Westeros and the fact that he met Arya, knowning her full name even when she never mentioned to him, is probably no coincidence and part of the Many-Faced God's plan. It also explain why the main characters stopped having PlotArmor, most of them dying one after another, they basically stopped being [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness important to the Many-Faced God]]. |
| 302 | * Arya being the one to kill the Night King makes perfect sense thematically. Her entire character arc has been about her descent into nihilism after witnessing death repeatedly, only to find value in life once more through her family. Naturally, she's the one to deliver the ultimate rejection to the embodiment of death. |
| 303 | * Arya was at least for a short while technically also a Princess as both Robb and Jon were declared Kings in the North, all the other Stark Siblings became Princes and Princesses. Thus Arya fulfills the title of Prince(ess) that was Promised even if she was never referred to as such in the show proper. |
| 304 | * Arya CallingYourAttacks seems like a bad idea given the Night King hears her battlecry and and catches her in a death-grip. Only who was he about to kill? ''Bran'', [[BigBrotherInstinct Arya's little brother]]. She was trying to make sure the Night King would focus his attention on her so she could save Bran's life. |
| 305 | ** Bran's reasoning for giving Arya the Valyrian dagger does make sense since it would "be useless on a cripple". But it is entirely possible that Bran saw that it was Arya who would kill the Night King, thus giving her the Valyrian dagger would ensure the end of the Long Night. |
| 306 | * "Light of the Seven" and "The Night King" are strikingly similar. Both are somber piano pieces that become more layered as they progress, roughly the same length, with contrasting (Light versus Night) titles that refer to supernatural figures, the former (roughly) on the side of the heroes, the latter the villain. |
| 307 | * Jon ignores all of his allies trying to get to the Godswood and Bran. Even when Viserion lands, he keeps trying to get past. However, he suddenly gets up and starts screaming in the face of Viserion. This doesn't make sense unless you realise Jon may have seen Arya making her way to the Godswood and offered himself as bait so that she'd get through. His yells even sound like he's telling Arya to go, and considering this is seconds before we see Arya rush past the White Walkers, it seems fairly likely this is the case. |
| 308 | * If the Night King represents winter (given his ice powers and the fact that he and White Walkers shatter to splinters when defeated) then the name Winterfell and the Stark devise "Winter is coming" become prophetic: Winter ''came'' to Winterfell, and '''Winter Fell'''. |
| 309 | * When confronting the Lannister brothers, Bronn is willing to punch Tyrion in the face, but keeps his crossbow trained on Jaime and proceeds to address Tyrion as the only Lannister he's still negotiating with, even though he's fed up with the whole family. This makes sense in two ways: while Jaime is much less dangerous than he once was, he's still more dangerous than Tyrion, but more importantly, Tyrion was the last Lannister Bronn worked with who seemed to actually ''keep'' his promises, and even acknowledged when his bargaining position was too lowly to leverage Bronn into doing what he wanted. While Tyrion's last payment was very modest compared to the promises of Jaime and Cersei, he still ''paid'' it, and he's shown himself to be a good faith negotiator compared to his siblings. Cersei and Jaime are untrustworthy enough to give even an opportunist like Bronn doubts, but Tyrion's credit is actually pretty good. |
| 310 | ** One question that's been asked after this particular episode was how Bronn got into Winterfell to be able to threaten the Lannister brothers so easily. This was, of course, about a day or two after a night battle that involved forces from several different regions of Westeros AND Essos. Dothraki took the field with Essosi Unsullied with Northmen, Valemen, Wildlings, and a bit of everything else. And most of them spent the next days after the battle recovering from wounds and[=/=]or getting ''obliterated'' drunk. Of course one cunning man with a non-distinctive appearance could slip into the castle in the wee hours of the morning with security at an all-time low. Especially if that one man is Bronn. |
| 311 | * Sansa and Arya seems immediately understanding of TheReveal of Jon's identity and what Ned did to preserve it - moreso, arguably, than Jon himself. Probably because, over the course of the story, both had new identities invented for them in order to stay alive and hidden from enemies. |
| 312 | * Ghost is given an odd, abrupt sendoff after everything that has happened. The Doylist reason for this happening, as explained by the showrunners, was the mounting CGI costs of animating the direwolves up close (which seems to come through in the overall treatment of them in the story, particularly where it deviates from the source material). The Watsonian reasons, however, are many: |
| 313 | ** King's Landing is probably far too far south for a direwolf to survive. Keep in mind that the first thing said about direwolves is how rare it is to see them south of the Wall in what Westeros considers 'The North.' |
| 314 | ** Ghost was permanently wounded anyway and likely would have died if forced into another battle. |
| 315 | ** Ghost was symbolic in many ways of Jon's connection to the Starks (Ghost was the only albino of his litter to Jon's bastard status, which made each stick out from his other supposed blood siblings.) Now that this connection has been revealed to be not quite as Jon thought it was, the symbolism -- one that Jon's character noticed and pointed out from the beginning -- is no longer there. |
| 316 | * Cersei tried to rally the remaining lords and the people to her side, claiming that Dany's hordes of Dothraki, Unsullied armies, and dragons would destroy everything. Come "The Bells", and she's proven absolutely right! |
| 317 | * Arya thanks The Hound at their last farewell. He acknowledges it with a slight, respectful nod. This is as close to a heartfelt, tender goodbye as you could possibly get from Sandor Clegane. Even at ''this point,'' a sour "fuck off" in response wouldn't be atypical of the guy. |
| 318 | * Daenerys took ''everything'' from Cersei. Including the title of "Mad Queen". |
| 319 | * When Maester Aemon talked about being tempted to abandon his vows to help the last members of his family, he said "A Targaryen, alone in the world, is a terrible thing." At the time, it sounded like mere empathy for the children, lost and alone. In retrospect, Aemon was aware of the history of his family and the instability common to its members. He may have foreseen that, without stability and guidance from someone older and wiser, his great grand-niece could become something ''terrible''. |
| 320 | * Cersei's death was unsatisfying to many, but if you think about it, it is very fitting to her. Despite being a villain, Cersei led a miserable, pitiful existence, falling to new lows to escape one quagmire (like going the naked walk to escape the Faith Militant), only to find herself in another. So her death was just like her life: pitiful, while still inflicting great harm on others. |
| 321 | * The book series on which Series/GameOfThrones is called ''Literature/ASongOfIceandFire''. After watching thes episode, it finally becomes clear what that means: "Ice" stand for Night King with his ice powers, and "Fire" stands for Daenerys and her dragon(s). And both are equally destructive. |
| 322 | * Tyrion invoking Jon's sisters to get him to stop Daenerys in the final episode. Varys must have told him the story of how he convinced the ever-honorable Ned Stark to throw his honor away, all those years ago... |
| 323 | * Drogon destroying the iron throne proves he realized that Jon didn't ''want'' to kill Daenerys, but was left with no choice. So he burned what killed his mother, and left the rest. |
| 324 | ** It's also possible that Drogon actually ''couldn't'' kill Jon because of the Targaryen blood in his veins. |
| 325 | * Nominating Bran Stark as King seems [[DarkhorseVictory out of left field]] but it is actually the most practical choice for what the Six Kingdoms need because he, as the Three-Eyed Raven, represents the opposite of everything that has caused the Kingdoms trouble over the last several centuries. |
| 326 | ** As he is physically incapable of fathering children (and seems to have become asexual to boot), the likelihood of his starting a dynasty that hands the crown down from father to son, which would almost inevitably produce at some point a vicious king, an idiot king, or a vicious idiot king, is almost nil. |
| 327 | ** As he is emptied of all ambition, he's not likely to get the Six into some petty war to further his own personal designs. |
| 328 | ** As he is emptied of all personal grudges, he is not likely to use the crown to exact revenge on people that may have wronged him. |
| 329 | ** As he holds wide-spanning knowledge of Westeros and its peoples past and present, he is able to rule impartially without favoring one house over another. |
| 330 | ** As he has the unanimous approval of the Great Council, there is less likely to be conflict and opposition during his rule. |
| 331 | ** Finally, from a practical standpoint, aside from his physical disability, he is young, still in his teens, and healthy. And even if he is not functionally immortal like the previous Three-Eyed Raven, he stands to be alive and on the throne for the next several decades, which will be more than enough time for Westeros to rebuild itself, and perhaps even enough that by the time Bran dies, the Six Kingdoms will be run by some sort of parliamentary system, if not the mostly democratic one broached by Samwell Tarly. |
| 332 | * The little we see of the new Westeros hints at several cultural changes well on the way to taking place: |
| 333 | ** GOT ends with women wielding authority much more openly than was the case at its start. After two Queens of Westeros, and the heroic deeds of many women in the North (11-year-old Lyanna Mormont dying heroically taking down a zombie giant, Brienne of Tarth fighting and commanding on the front lines of the War for the Dawn, and Arya Stark saving the North and possibly most of Westeros by killing the Night King of legend), and Bran's access to knowledge of all these events as well as ones from the past that may have not been mentioned or suppressed by a patriarchical society, the increased openness to this makes a bit of sense. HeirClubForMen still seems to be in effect among some of the nobility, but it's not hard to envision that the monarch's Small Council and Council of Nobles will have an increased female presence going forward. |
| 334 | ** If an elective monarchy continues to be the way the Six Kingdoms select their ruler, it sets up a situation where anyone that becomes Lord Paramount and wins the approval of the fellow Lords can become king. This simultaneously opens the throne beyond one noble dynasty (and even someone like Bronn, a lowborn sellsword elevated to knighthood, then lordship, then High Lordship by a succession of rulers, could throw his hat in the ring) and deters the ability someone with a bad reputation amongst the lords and ladies of Westeros from seizing the crown through political machinations (or in layman's terms, you won't get a vote if the other High Lords think you're not up to the task, dangerously ambitious and warlike, or a {{Jerkass}}.) |
| 335 | * Ironically, the southern kingdoms, who disdained the North and Iron Islands for their quaint practices, have become much like them politically, with rulership being earned via election. |
| 336 | * Dany's growing respect for her deceased brother Viserys can tell us a lot about her SanitySlippage throughout the series. In the beginning, Dany displayed nothing but contempt towards him, [[SpeakIllOfTheDead calling him a weakling and a fool]]. However, in Season 8, during Jaime's trial, Dany recalls her brother telling her a bedtime story about everything what they would do to a man who killed their father. In the final episode, she nostalgically tells Jon about how Viserys described to her what Iron Throne looked like. |
| 337 | * The Lords of the Great Houses (the ones that still remain, anyway) at the Great Council of 305 AC laughing at Samwell Tarly's proposal of direct democracy may seem to us, at first, a subtle nod and wink to the audience that the high and mighty lords of Westeros think oh-so-wrongly that ItWillNeverCatchOn when in our modern day and age we know it may eventually happen; it's actually a rather wise rejection of the concept. Westeros is just not ready for a full blown democracy; not taking into account the communications ''nightmare'' that would be a general election for the entire Six Kingdoms, the overwhelming majority of the population is made up of uneducated smallfolk; all but a handful of them don't know how to read or write, and none of them cares particularly who sits on what throne or in what lordship, so long as they have a good harvest, no wars, and aren't taxed into poverty. We the audience see this as a bit of a "haha, they don't realize that it actually works" joke, when in truth it's basically the simple fact that Samwell suggesting that [[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail supreme executive power is derived from a mandate by the masses]] is a disaster waiting to happen; the smallfolk would just put whoever could convince them that they'd get all the food, peace and low taxes they want would ride right on to the throne, as there's no way you could hold public debates, there's no printing press to give widespread leaflets and news (not that most people could read it), and propaganda full of nothing but spin would be so widespread that it would literally divide the nation politically to yet another civil war. Which is exactly why Tyrion decided to take Sam's suggestion and turn it down a bit into a more concentrated form of ElectiveMonarchy; at least the Lords are all educated and understand statecraft and policy...most of them, anyway. |
| 338 | * The new Small Council: |
| 339 | ** The vacant seats: Bran mentions the Small Council is missing a Master of Whispers, as well as Laws. However, as the Three-Eyed Raven, he actually doesn't need a spymaster. |
| 340 | ** Sam as Grand Maester: Grand Maesters are chosen by the Conclave, and most of them get the position when they're old men. But Maesters [[DoesNotLikeMagic don't like magic]]. Bran is the Three-Eyed Raven, so Sam, who likes Bran and voted for him, was probably the only one who wanted the job. |
| 341 | ** Bronn as Master of Coin: At first, it seems ironic, since he didn't even know how loans worked a few seasons ago. But what drives Bronn? What does he care about the most? [[OnlyInItForTheMoney Money]]. He'd want to be sure that he's always paid in full, so finding out about loans and how little he actually knows about money would have given him plenty of reason to become more financially-savvy over the next few years. Also, Bronn may be lowborn, but he's also a former ''sellsword''. If he didn't have basic knowledge on how to budget and manage money, he wouldn't have survived this long. |
| 342 | ** Davos as Master of Ships: Though a bit less of a stretch than the other two because his life at sea, Davos has no real experience in military naval command. But he does have something more important: Bran's trust. The Small Council is made up of the king's top advisors, so it makes sense that Bran would choose people he trusts on a personal level. Out of those, Davos has the most experience of seamanship. |
| 343 | * Regardless of our personal opinions on it or potential foreshadowing, Dany's descent into madness does have logic. I'd say that she starts to unravel after learning the truth about Jon. Consider it for a second. By the time of "The Bells" her quest for the Iron Throne cost her almost everything, she lost two of her children, only one of her friends survived at this point, every happiness she had acquired over the years had fallen apart through her efforts to reach the Iron Throne and then came Jon's reveal, not only did she have a lover before Jon learned the truth, but at least her goal was hers by right. Afterwards, not only did Jon's northern sensibilities sink that ship, but suddenly there was someone with a superior claim, not only by blood socially. Jon was raised by a respected honorable man. In "Last of the Starks" we saw the men at Winterfell celebrating Jon while ignoring Dany, she knew that if the world knew the truth most would pick him over her and, to see all she'd lost, all she'd ''sacrificed'' come to nothing? That would make anyone snap. |
| 344 | ** There's also the fact that, for at least the last two seasons, when she's been counseled to take the more restrained, merciful option over the more direct, violent one that is her first instinct, almost every time it has backfired on her and cost her dearly, sometimes very personally. By comparison, pretty much from the first episode, she's been learning that being ruthless gets her results. Now, she faces the biggest prize -- the Iron Throne -- and thus the biggest choice, and coming with that, the biggest consequences. What will the consequences be if she makes the wrong call now? If this backfires on her, what will it cost her? And as it turns out, she ''does'' make the wrong choice. . . and it costs her '''everything'''. |
| 345 | ** Even long before the final season, it was very clear that she operates under a different moral code than you'd expect to see from such a noble woman. Her time with the Dothraki and in Slaver's Bay hardened her heart considerably and made extreme actions like using the Dragons and killing potential allies seem less like a big deal. |
| 346 | * The phrase "Song of Ice and Fire" could be seen to foreshadow what happens when Jon and Dany came together. When ice is brought to fire it melts, and becomes water, much like how Jon is changed by Dany, becoming more flexible and accommodating to her, as Varys notes Dany did hold the control in the relationship , but ultimately that water would extinguish the fire, just as Jon killed Dany. |
| 347 | * When Brienne looks at Jaime Lannister's entry in the White Book, it has two different sets of handwriting. The early sentences are written in one hand, but the passages beginning with how he killed the Mad King are written in a different hand. This is because Gerold Hightower wrote the early passages, and Barristan Selmy took over when he replaced Hightower as Lord Commander. Brienne completes Jaime's entry in her own hand. |
| 348 | ** Jamie also admits all the way back in season 1 that he hates being known as "Kingslayer" to his father. The White Book doesn't even mention his involvement in the siege of Pyke, nor any tourney achievements. When that conversation took place, he had just been appointed Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, giving him the opportunity to add to the book himself. By the time he returns to King's Landing, the loss of his hand prevents this, which is hammered home not only by his own son mocking him, but later in Dorne, where his miserable attempts to write with his non-dominant hand are shown. |
| 349 | * Bran being the king: Bran has memory (and possibly consciousness) of the Three-Eyed Raven since the original Bran [[ThatManIsDead is metaphorically dead]]. In the books, Three-Eyed Raven was Brynden "Bloodraven" Rivers, a legitimized HeroicBastard of Aegon IV Targaryen "The Unworthy" and Lady Melissa Blackwood. This means that the king ''is'' a Targaryen, at least spiritually and mentally. Not to mention the irony that an alleged HeroicBastard Jon Snow, who is actually a legitimate Targaryen heir and not a bastard at all, is exiled, leaving an ''actual'' Targaryen HeroicBastard to be the king. |
| 350 | ** This would also explain why he claimed he can't be lord of anything - Bloodraven has no claim for any of these. Being the King of Seven/Six Kingdoms, on the other hand, ''is'' his claim. This may also be why he did nothing to prevent Jon from exile - ''he doesn't want any other Targaryen to contest him'', making Bloodraven an outright MagnificentBastard. |
| 351 | ** This is also likely why he allows the North to be independent. Bloodraven is of First Men descent through his mother. Northmen is an off-shoot of First Men. Also, his mother's family ''was'' Northmen before being exiled to Riverlands. So, he has soft spot on Northmen. |
| 352 | * It's been pointed out that the political situation in the Show's end is a potential powder keg for a number of reasons, which ultimately makes King's Landing about the same place it has always been. But the entire point of the last couple of seasons of the series was basically that between the Game of Thrones and dragons, zombies, [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs and zombie dragons]], Westeros has far better chances with the former. (The characters that failed to understand this all ended up dead.) |
| 353 | * Melisandre said in Season 3 to Arya ""I see a darkness in you, and in that darkness, eyes staring back at me. Brown eyes, blue eyes, green eyes, eyes you'll shut forever. We will meet again" and again later Arya offers a CallBack "You Said I will close many eyes" Turns out Melisandre wasn't speaking of ''living'' eyes, but Arya single handedly wipes out the entire Wright and White Walker army. |
| 354 | * Thematically, Bran becoming ruler of Westeros represents the First Men finally having fought off the Andal invasion |
| 355 | * The Prince that was Promised prophecy was never literal, and most likely was fulfilled by Jon Snow. In the show, the Azor Ahai prophecy and The Prince That Was Promised are folded into the same thing. This prophecy maintains the same basic premise of both that one day a man (or woman) of noble blood will come into the world and save it from darkness with a blade called "Lightbringer". After the Long Night, the dead are defeated, but the world is still in chaos. First because of Queen Cersei, and then because of Queen Daenerys. The darkness the prince was meant to fight against was never referring to the White Walker invasion, because if it had, Melissandre would've been Arya Stark's cheerleader and chief supporter instead of Stannis or Jon Snow. The darkness was Daenerys Targaryen and her vow to war and kill until the entire world is brought to heel and her perfect empire achieved. Lightbringer wasn't a weapon, it's the peace that was created from her death, which correlates to Nyssa Nyssa being sacrificed in the original rendition. |
| 356 | ** I got the feeling that Melisandre originally misinterpreted the prophecy and assumed everything was literal when she worked with Stannis. That's why she took so much stock into Lightbringer being a real flaming sword used to fight Darkness. Only later, perhaps when she met Arya, did she realize the struggle against the dead was (mostly) not the primary concern, as much as it was making sure Jon Snow lives. |
| 357 | |
| 358 | !!FridgeHorror |
| 359 | * Maester Luwin thought that his last act would be to send Bran and Rickon to the safety of their half-brother Jon at Castle Black, rather than the wars tearing up the south. Unfortunately by the looks of it -- as Bran and Rickon don't manage to make it to Castle Black -- south would have been the better choice in spite of everything. Welcome to the ZombieApocalypse, kids! This becomes AscendedFridgeHorror, since Bran's party is attacked by a gang of wights and Jojen Reed dies as a result in addition to Rickon and Hodor dying thereafter. |
| 360 | * Roose Bolton remarks to Lord Karstark upon finding the hundreds of dead Northmen in Harrenhal that "The debt will be repaid, my friend. For them and for your sons." Upon first glance this appears to be a show of solidarity by Bolton for a still grieving ally, but then you remember that Karstark is still furious over Catelyn's freeing of his son's killer, and that this may be a sign of Bolton turning on the Starks, especially given his son's recent sacking of an unarmed Winterfell. It's also an echo of "The Lannisters Always Pay Their Debts. |
| 361 | * In "Two Swords": The show lingers for about five seconds on a recent golden statue of Joffrey holding a crossbow and stepping on the head of a slain direwolf. Obviously, it was commissioned to celebrate his 'victory' over Robb Stark. Funny and telling of the obnoxious parts of his personality, right? Now imagine being Sansa, and having to walk past that statue every time you're in that part of the palace. |
| 362 | * In Season 4's "Mockingbird", we're introduced to the latest incarnation of Ser Gregor Clegane executing prisoners. Since the prisoners are provided weapons, it seems like what's actually going on is a Trial By Combat. Only since these are clearly poor nobodies and not Lords and Ladies of Westeros they on't get the dignity of an audience or even a genuine fighting chance. The horror comes in when you realize that even ''if'' a prisoner managed to kill [[WorldsStrongestMan The Mountain]] there is no fucking way the guards would let that person live. Clegane is Tywin Lannister's best soldier and Cersei's ace in the hole for any problem that requires brute force. The fights already [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption meant to be unfair]], managing to kill him would probably land you in even hotter water. |
| 363 | * Meryn Trant is revealed to be an {{ephebophile}} who gets off on beating girls. This explains his enthusiasm for abusing Sansa in earlier seasons. Imagine what he might have tried to do to an 11-year-old Arya if she hadn't escaped. |
| 364 | * When Jaime is leaving the Dreadfort, Locke taunts him about his hand and that he will "look after your friend". When Jaime doesn't reply, Locke says, "I don't remember chopping your balls off." Then we cut to the infamous scene where [[GroinAttack Ramsay castrates Theon.]] |
| 365 | * On the subject of Theon, Season 5's "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken" presents us with Ramsay [[ForcedToWatch forcing him to watch]] as Sansa is deflowered. The "Horror" comes in when you realize that Ramsay likely intended this as a punishment for both Theon ''and'' Sansa for Sansa's refusal to take Theon's arm as Ramsay had requested. |
| 366 | * Jaime comes back to King's Landing to find that Cersei has demolished the Sept of Baelor and killed countless people within it in and outside. How? Through one of the Mad King's hidden caches of wildfire beneath it. Years before, he became perhaps the most hated man in the Seven Kingdoms by breaking his oath and killing his king explicitly to prevent any of these caches from being lit. He's taken consolation and even pride in the good that sacrifice did. And now Cersei has rendered that sacrifice partly null. It's possible Cersei only knew about those caches ''because Jaime told her''. |
| 367 | * The Iron Bank of Braavos invests in the slave trade. Braavos was founded by escaped slaves, and in the books their First Law is that no-one in their city shall ''ever'' be a slave. The hypocrisy is nauseating. |
| 368 | ** They don't have to invest directly in slave trade to suffer an economic downturn from its elimination. They're operating the closest thing in the setting to a global economy where everything affects everything, and a huge change in the political balance is going to echo throughout the system with negative consequences to any and all long term investments. |
| 369 | * As of Season 7's Episode 3, the Sand Snakes are now dead... Except that wasn't all of them. Ellaria had other daughters, one of them being [[DeadGuyJunior Elia Sand]] who is name-dropped in a few episodes, and they can't be older than little girls. Who is going to protect them now that their mother is as good as dead? |
| 370 | * Considering the truth of Jon's parentage, Aerys' murder of Rickard and Brandon Stark is even more horrifying when you realize that ''Jon's paternal grandfather murdered his maternal grandfather and uncle.'' |
| 371 | * In Season 7's Episode 4: |
| 372 | ** The Reach's smallfolk will likely starve now that their rations and crops were stolen by the Lannisters and Tarlys. Even worse following the closing battle of the episode, as many of those rations were likely destroyed. Now no one will be able to use them during the Long Night. |
| 373 | ** The opening of the Lannister/Dothraki fight was epic and cathartic. Dany rode in on Drogon and started raising hell. And the scene kept going and going with Dany coming around again and again to burn more people, despite the fact that her Khalasar probably could have taken over and still won handily. Then, the cuts to men burning and trying to douse themselves in the swamp started getting unsettling. Seeing the carnage from Bronn's perspective as he raced through the battlefield to get to the ballista revealed the extent of the MookHorrorShow the Lannister soldiers were experiencing, clearly demonstrating that WarIsHell. Also counts as Fridge Brilliace in that the scene was perfectly done to make you worried about the Mad King's daughter's sanity. |
| 374 | ** Had Jaime succeeded in killing Dany, the war wouldn't have ended then and there, because in that scenario you have tens of thousands of Dothraki screamers stranded on Westeros, and you've just killed ''the only person who was holding them back''. With a significant portion of the last remaining southern army dead on that field -- with Westeros' best military commander likely among them -- the Dothraki would have had free rein over the Reach and the Stormlands, reverting back to their old ways. |
| 375 | *** The Dothraki is bad enough, but Dany's three dragons would now be wild and free to roam without anyone controlling them. And in that scenario you have Drogon, who has a strong protective bond with his Mother, enraged and bursting with renewed adrenaline willing to tear the world, more or less creating a firestorm that would have torched the countryside and then going on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge that will make Westeros long for the cold of the Long Night. Daenerys is more or less a LoadBearingBoss. |
| 376 | *** Daenerys was also the only thing keeping the Dothraki unified and not fighting ''each other'', so her death might have at least mixed results. Dragons without human riders are also somewhat easier for human armies to pick off -- their riders are usually careful enough to keep them out of range from arrow and scorpion fire, but dragons will just blindly charge at any threat. |
| 377 | *** Even worse is that it would have likely resulted in Jaime dying by Drogon, meaning not only a bunch of Dothraki are pillaging the countryside while dragons are burning castles, but Cersei will likely let them as long as they aren't coming to King's Landing ''and'' her only potential field commander is [[AxCrazy Euron]]. The White Walkers almost feel like a mercy at this point. |
| 378 | * In Episode 6: |
| 379 | ** Viserion, "son" to the breaker of chains, has his corpse put to chains and dragged out of a frozen lake in order to be turned into an undead dragon, meaning by extension a weapon against his "mother". |
| 380 | ** The books explain that the reason Daenerys named Viserion after her brother was because, while Viserys was weak, cruel and frightened, his dragon would do what he couldn't. Now that the Night King has "woken" the dragon, not only will he be used against Daenerys and her Dothraki but he'll also be used to conquer the Seven Kingdoms and destroy the usurpers currently reigning, along with everyone else. This would essentially avenge Viserys and accomplish everything he wanted to do in life, except in the most nightmarish way possible. |
| 381 | ** Look at the [[NonHumanUndead beasts]] on the Night King's dispatch: a bear, a horse, and finally [[{{Dracolich}} a dragon]]. Bears are House Mormont's sigil, which Jorah is a member (and was TheLeader) of. Horses are the de-facto sigil of the Dothraki, which was led by Dany's first husband Khal Drogo. And dragons, are of course, the sigil of Dany's house. This episode also features what is widely regarded as Dany's greatest defeat yet. |
| 382 | * *Gasp* The jarred fetuses of Selyse Baratheon are still in Dragonstone! Oh, the poor Dothraki or Unsullied who got freaked out coming upon those. |
| 383 | ** What if Daenerys herself happened upon them? She has actually lost a baby at birth and her child reportedly came out horribly deformed, so seeing more dead, deformed infants would probably be an unpleasant reminder of that. |
| 384 | * As of Season 7, there is essentially no one left alive north of the Wall. Meaning that the Free Folk have suffered a near-complete genocide, with the only survivors (numbering only a few thousand) having fled south from Hardhome under Tormund's leadership. And they're manning the Wall, meaning they'll be the first ones in danger if/when the White Walkers breach it. As much of a threat the White Walkers are to the rest of Westerosi society, the Wildlings and their culture have already been mostly eradicated by them. A people whose traditions have remained intact for thousands of years, who are the among last remnants of pre-feudal Westerosi civilization, all but wiped out. |
| 385 | * More of a fridge TearJerker, but during the vision of Lyanna’s DeathByChildbirth there is blood on the pillow next to her head. This isn’t impossible, but it is a little strange considering most of the blood is concentrated on her body. Then you realize that Lyanna’s blood loss and exhaustion probably left her too weak to safely hold her son. It’s possible the midwife placed baby Jon on the pillow once he was born so that Lyanna could at least look at him. |
| 386 | |
| 387 | [[AC:Season 8]] |
| 388 | |
| 389 | * Dragons eat whatever they want to eat, as Daenerys herself puts it. Even if the people of Winterfell manage to keep the White Walkers out indefinitely, they are still staying with two giant timed bombs that may start munching on them the moment there's nothing left to eat. |
| 390 | * Cersei takes offense to Euron's presumptuousness. She tells him that she has executed men for less, and he quickly retorts that they were lesser men. Qyburn looks taken a bit aback. Qyburn is played by Anton LESSER. |
| 391 | * During the Great Battle of Winterfell, the Night King raises all the dead on the battlefield to reinforce his assault, including the dead buried in the crypt...the Stark family crypt. It's highly possible that a reanimated Ned Stark was walking around killing women and children. |
| 392 | ** While this is technically possible, it is very unlikely. In Season 2, Baelish brings Ned's remains to Catelyn Stark as a gesture of good will. They fit in a box about the size of a footlocker, and it takes Cat a moment to realize what she's seeing when she opens it up. The show doesn't go into it but, in the novelization, Ned's corpse was "bleached," which means that it was dunked in corrosive fluid until all of the tissues and meat had dissolved and there was nothing left but clean, white bone. No connective tissue means the bones aren't attached anymore and can be piled up in a small box. So while his remains are in the crypt and may be possible for the Night King to resurrect (we've seen many near-skeletal wights), none of it is connected anymore and a bunch of rattling ribs and fingerbones probably couldn't break through the very new stone sarcophagus. |
| 393 | * With the death of both Jorah and Lyanna, House Mormont is now completely extinct. |
| 394 | * Look at the way the giant Wight holds Lyanna up to his face before he kills her. He clearly enjoys watching her suffer. Although there are implications that Wights are capable of independent thoughts before, this scene confirms that they are capable of sadism. The White Walkers are not simply commandeering the bodies of the dead, they are also twisting their original personality into that of sadistic monsters. |
| 395 | * The North is already poor and desolate before the event of the series, but the situation will get far worse after the White Walker invasion. Even if they are allowed to retain their independence after the series, they have little in the way of resistance if a future monarch forces them back into the Iron Throne. |
| 396 | ** Other than the fact that a) the Northern climate is roughly comparable to a Russian winter, making invasion just about impossible for the next few years at least and b) dragons, the one thing that might be able to overcome this issue, are dying like flies right now. |
| 397 | * Melisandre mentions that Beric was resurrected so many times '''just''' so that he could save Arya in the critical moment. This means that the PlotArmor that Arya, Jon, Daenerys, and other characters had is probably due to Lord of Light protecting them so they could defeat the Night King. And given what happened to Beric, this protection is now '''gone'''. Fans complaining that main characters stopped dying may [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor still get their wish]] in the remaining episodes. |
| 398 | * Arya trained under the followers of the god of ''death'', who probably has some issues with the idea of wights, and Melisandre specifically predicted she would close a set of ''blue'' eyes. Obviously, plenty of people have blue eyes, but nobody's are quite as blue as the Night King's. Of course, it was her. |
| 399 | * The savagery the Northerners unleash on King's Landing makes sense because for them, it's settling a ''very'' [[ItsPersonal personal score]] with the south. Unlike the Dothraki, who are just following [[RapePillageAndBurn their usual inclinations in warfare]], and the Unsullied, who for the most part are just following their Queen's example, for the Northmen, King's Landing is the heart of a regime that has brutalised them, oppressed them, killed their nobility, their friends, their families and inflicted atrocity after atrocity on them. So now the chance for revenge has come, they're going to seize it with both hands. |
| 400 | ** In addition, the fury the Northern-Targaryen alliance turns on the citizens of King's Landing is also likely, as Jaime predicted, fuelled by rage at the fact the Lannister armies sat on their hands and essentially left them to die at the hands of the army of the dead. They're unlikely to be feeling merciful to those they consider responsible for leaving their friends and families to be torn apart by wights. |
| 401 | * Related to the above: why, then did the Northerners finally obeyed Jon's order to pull back, despite their blood thirst clearly not quenched? Because they have realized that Daenerys cannot be trusted [[UnfriendlyFire not to burn her allies' troops]]. |
| 402 | * Ellaria Sand and her (dead) daughter are still in the dungeons of the Red Keep. Best case: they, like Jaime and Cersei, were crushed under rubble in Daenerys' attack. Worse case: the route to their cell was blocked by that rubble, so Ellaria will soon die of suffocation or dehydration. Worst case: the cell and the halls leading to it are completely intact, ''but no one knows they're down there, so no one will come to free her, or even fed her''. |
| 403 | ** Even if Ellaria is eventually found, rescued and freed, it is debatable whether she still has the will to keep on living after what Cersei did to her or if she'll slit her own throat at first opportunity. |
| 404 | * There is a very dark symmetry between episodes 3 and 5. In the Episode 3, Winterfell is attacked by an army, which has a dragon at their disposal, and is willing to kill anyone, not accepting surrender, resulting in bloodbath. Winterfell is defended by the Dothraki, the Unsullied, and the Northerners. Come Episode 5, and ''King's Landing'' is attacked by an army, which has a dragon at their disposal, and is willing to kill anyone, not accepting surrender, resulting in bloodbath. Only this time, the Dothraki, the Unsullied, and the Northerners comprise the '''attacking''' force. The "Defenders of Humanity" are the destroyers now, indicating how HumansAreTheRealMonsters. |
| 405 | * Brienne's part of the entry in the White Book portrays Jaime in a very positive light, either omitting his more questionable deeds or phrasing them euphemistically. While this is certainly heartwarming, one has to wonder if she really is the first Lord Commander to ever do this. Many members of the Kingsguard that the book describes as paragon examples of being a knight may have been quite more grey in reality. This can on one hand serve as motivation for later Kingsguard members to aspire to these virtues too, but on the other hand can also lead to frustration if they just can't meet the impossibly high standards their predecessors allegedly lived by... |
| 406 | * So, as of the finale, the Seven Kingdoms (or rather ''Six'' Kingdoms) are being ruled by Bran Stark, who is seen to be ideal because he doesn't desire power, wealth or anything like that and will rule impartially with the people's interests in mind. Except... Bran isn't really Bran anymore. He's the Three-Eyed Raven; he says so himself. Exactly who or what the Three Eyed Raven is or wants to accomplish has never been made entirely clear, save for the fact he's known to be in league with the Children of the Forest, the same beings who created the White Walkers in a desperate attempt to destroy humanity (though by the events of the series they seemed to have been working with humans to save them from extinction). And when you think about it...Bran has the power to see anyone and anything, with little effort. He can take over the minds of animals and even people, if he wanted to. He could be anywhere, at any time, know everything about anyone and you might not even know. We'd better pray to both the old gods and the new that 'Bran' has no ulterior motives and uses his abilities for solely benevolent purposes, because the thought of someone abusing the kind of power the Three Eyed Raven possesses is ''terrifying''. [[ParanoiaFuel Nowhere would be safe and your private thoughts and conversations are no longer private, because]] BigBrotherIsWatching. |
| 407 | * The Night's King's immunity to fire is {{Foreshadowing}}. Who else shares this? Daenerys. This proves that they are two sides of the same coin. One is all about ice, the other all about fire. They're also invasive forces who aim to conquer the world. Also they're stabbed to death in the chest. They clearly parallel each other. In addition their resepective deaths both subvert who kills them: Night King is killed by Arya, despite Jon being his long adversary, and Daenerys is killed by Jon, even though Arya is the one to suffer from Daenerys' assault ''and'' being the one who killed such people previously. |
| 408 | * With the deaths being spread between multiple episodes, it becomes hard to track how many houses are extinct: |
| 409 | ** House Mormont |
| 410 | ** House Glover (returned to his keep and was massacred by wights) |
| 411 | ** House Umbar (see above) |
| 412 | ** House Karstark (also see above) |
| 413 | ** House Tyrell |
| 414 | ** House Martell |
| 415 | ** Clegane family |
| 416 | ** Quite possibly House Dondarrion (unless Beric has siblings) |
| 417 | ** And last but not least, the Targaryens, Daenerys being the last "pure" Targaryen. Even if Jon has children, they are unlikely to be like Daenerys, having only a quarter of Targaryen blood. |
| 418 | ** Houses Lannister, Baratheon, and Arryn are reduced to a single person - although in all three cases, said remaining members are males who could perhaps one day sire sons of their own and this is very likely in the cases of Gendry and Robin Arryn, as they have both reached or are approaching young adulthood and will probably marry to further the line. |
| 419 | ** As for the remnants of House Greyjoy (that being Yara and Aeron) they are unlikely to have children. Aeron is up there in years, and Yara isn't likely to take a husband that ranks below her, if she takes one at all. Given Theon's previous [[ReallyGetsAround proclivities]], there ''is'' the slightest chance he may have sired a bastard that, if found, could be legitimized by Bran (perhaps as payment for their father dying in his defense during the Battle for the Dawn) and keep the House alive. Other than that, though, their future is looking dim. |
| 420 | ** Even the future of House Stark isn't rosy, despite their victory. Bran cannot have children, and Jon is not a Stark. Even if Arya and/or Sansa have children at some point, those won't be trueborn Starks, meaning that the episode title "The Last of Starks" is actually true. |
| 421 | *** According to the books, if a woman in the Seven Kingdoms is the last of her house, her second born son may take the name and banner of her house, and with Sansa being the first ruling queen of a newly independent nations she can always pass new laws that would make her future husband take her name upon merriage. However, both Sophie Turner and the show itself (through the costumes) do hint that Sansa's past experiences will cause her to forego merriage and physical intimacy for the rest of her life.This opens up a whole other case of Fridge Horror relating to the stability and continued existence of the Kingdom of the North after Sansa's eventual death. |
| 422 | *** Sansa is still technically married to Tyrion, the one man who treated her with kindness, so there is a small but distinct possibility they'll reconcile and have children together. Now, whether those children will be dwarfs, Starks or Lannisters, who can say? |
| 423 | *** Additionally, the King[=/=]Queen in the North is more or less an ''elected'' title, granted by acclamation of the Northern lords rather by blood. (And conversely, it can be lost if the North thinks you're incompetent, as Robb painfully found out) And even if it weren't, Sansa of all people would be well aware of the dark side of "first son of the previous ruler inherits no matter what". If she dies without issue, the North will likely simply come together to elect a new ruler. |
| 424 | * Imagine the series had ended with Daenerys ''not'' undergoing a FaceHeelTurn and ruling as a benevolent Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. It's heavily implied (and outright stated in the books) that after her traumatic stillbirth, Daenerys is sterile. Best case scenario, peace would have only lasted a lifetime until her death [[HereWeGoAgain left no clear heir to the Iron Throne, especially if Jon predeceased her]]. |
| 425 | * Jon's parentage remaining a secret to the general public at the end of the series ensures that unless one of the characters privy to that knowledge chooses to reveal the truth, Rhaegar is doomed to be remembered as Lyanna's rapist and kidnapper. This also means Arthur Dayne and Gerold Hightower will continue to be remembered as having died holding Lyanna hostage instead of defending their newborn king. |
| 426 | ** And truth be told, the other option isn't much better; almost everyone who finds out the truth regarding Rhaegar and Lyanna's relationship in the show has the same reaction, which basically amount to: "That's great Rhaegar's not a rapist, but his choice in abandoning his duty to run after another girl he fell in love with still got innumerable people needlessly killed." So at worst Rhaegar's a villain and at best he'll be remembered as a fool that screwed up the realm by sheer political incompetence, the exact opposite of the wise prince he was known as. |
| 427 | * Drogon is a dragon orphaned of his rider[=/=]mother. A seven-year old dragon. And dragons can not only survive for hundreds of years but keep growing as long as there is "food and freedom." Drogon was last seen flying east with Daenerys's body, and his natural wildness combined with grief and nothing[=/=]no one to rein him in from doing the things a dragon does, potentially means Essos is in for a very, ''very'' bad time. |
| 428 | |
| 429 | |
| 430 |
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