# Game of Thrones 2.08 "The Prince of Winterfell" 5/20 No Book Spoilers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 20, 2012, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-2-08-the-prince-of-winterfell-5-20-no-book-spoilers/622528 "2012-05-20T17:47:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-2-08-the-prince-of-winterfell-5-20-no-book-spoilers/622528/121 "2012-05-23T20:26:48Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > What am I missing? Not knowing where or what the House of the Undying is. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-2-08-the-prince-of-winterfell-5-20-no-book-spoilers/622528/122 "2012-05-23T22:01:50Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > I’ve been thinking about that too, and the parallels each House has with their sigil… Interesting parallel to to Steven Brust’s Jhereg/Vlad Taltos series. The noble (and bourgeois, and peasant) Houses are each named after a particular animal, and share certain traits with that critter. Later on in the rather lengthy series… …it is revealed that the similarities are not coincidental–extra-planetary intelligences mucked about in the genetics of the prehistoric ancestors of the contemporary Houses, splicing in bits of the various critters’ DNA. The only exception was the House that amounts, more or less, to the mafia–they were just a bunch of thieves and misfits that were kicked out of the other tribes and started calling themselves with the name of a particular scavenger as a joke. Doubt that anything like that’s going on here, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Minnie\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Minnie\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Minnie_Luna)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-2-08-the-prince-of-winterfell-5-20-no-book-spoilers/622528/123 "2012-05-23T23:12:12Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > The poor Tullys-- the Aquamen of Westeros. Why did I read this in Raj from TBBT’s voice? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-2-08-the-prince-of-winterfell-5-20-no-book-spoilers/622528/124 "2012-05-25T00:21:49Z")
What is the “brotherhood” that Tywin is obsessed with? ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-2-08-the-prince-of-winterfell-5-20-no-book-spoilers/622528/125 "2012-05-25T01:19:22Z")
[spoiler]As reprisals for the capture of Tyrion, Tywin unleashed the Mountain on the Riverlands. Gregor did what Gregor does: burned peasants, looted women, raped castles. Ned Stark, then hand of the king, ordered one of the knights at court (ser Beric Dondarrion) to take a hundred men with him and capture Gregor Clegane. That was back in season 1. The brotherhood (their full name is “the brotherhood without banners”) are the remains of those hundred. They’re now outlaws for following their original orders, but engage in guerilla warfare behind the Lannister lines. Since the Mountain is such a personable fellow, the common folk of his lands give their support to the brotherhood against him - hence the constant torturefest in Harrenhal (at least, up until Jaqen killed the torturer at Arya’s behest)[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-2-08-the-prince-of-winterfell-5-20-no-book-spoilers/622528/126 "2012-05-25T01:22:30Z")
I’ve not said anything about moderating or spoilers in this thread since the first episode of this season aired, but that question and answer would’ve been perfect for either of the spoilers thread and not appropriate here. The show will reveal what it wants to about the brotherhood as the writers deem appropriate - the fact that it’s a vague organization that we don’t know much about right now is intentional. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-2-08-the-prince-of-winterfell-5-20-no-book-spoilers/622528/127 "2012-05-25T01:24:36Z")
Since Tywin has made a point of tracking down the brotherhood at least twice, I thought I had missed something. Didn’t mean to overstep the bounds of this thread. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-2-08-the-prince-of-winterfell-5-20-no-book-spoilers/622528/128 "2012-05-25T01:53:48Z")
Nothing wrong with the question, just the answer. I’m surprised nobody asked about it sooner since they keep getting mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-2-08-the-prince-of-winterfell-5-20-no-book-spoilers/622528/129 "2012-05-25T02:01:44Z")
I don’t follow the show, but I added the spoiler box as reported. Hope that helps. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-2-08-the-prince-of-winterfell-5-20-no-book-spoilers/622528/130 "2012-05-25T07:45:34Z")
Ah, my apologies - I haven’t read that far into the books so, since I did know that bit of trivia I assumed it had either been mentioned in the series, or in the HBO viewers’ guide. But I checked and it’s not there, so I guess I must have picked it up in a previous thread (or perhaps the no spoiler threads over at Something Awful). ---
**Author:** ![Stowed\_Bob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stowed_bob/32/3312_2.png) [@Stowed\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stowed_Bob)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-2-08-the-prince-of-winterfell-5-20-no-book-spoilers/622528/131 "2012-05-26T22:03:12Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > The horse whose throat they slit in sacrifice was the price for Drogo’s life. Dany’s baby may have been collateral damage, but I maintain that to the extent the death magic effected the baby, it would only have been its death. Its form had to have come from Dany, who herself has displayed dragon traits. It seems illogical to me to think that the dragon form _didn’t_ come from the dragon mother, but instead came from some random voodoo lady. Dany hasn’t expressed physical dragon form parts. Nor has any Targaryan been described as being part dragon. If you don’t see it as deformation from the dark magic, you can view it as fetal development. Many stages involve looking alien and far different from the final form. At the stage Dany lost her baby, her child would be at a stage where it was half-dragon looking. Doesn’t mean it’d maintain that look by the time it was birthed, where like every other Targaryan it appeared perfectly human. But the loss of the child wasn’t collateral damage. In Dany’s conversation with the witch, the witch stressed the heavy price for snatching Drogo from death’s jaws. Several times the witch repeated the price, with Dany not grasping the situation or the consequences. Why would a horse be considered such a dire cost? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-2-08-the-prince-of-winterfell-5-20-no-book-spoilers/622528/132 "2012-05-26T23:50:30Z")
Well, from what we saw of the Dothraki culture and religion, killing a horse was a _huge_ deal. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2012, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-2-08-the-prince-of-winterfell-5-20-no-book-spoilers/622528/133 "2012-05-27T05:56:31Z")
What is Arya going to do now stupid girl; she is deep in Lannister territory and when he finds out Tywin will have no doubt that she is if not Arya, then at least the daughter of some major bigwig. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2012, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-2-08-the-prince-of-winterfell-5-20-no-book-spoilers/622528/134 "2012-05-27T06:12:56Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Well, from what we saw of the Dothraki culture and religion, killing a horse was a _huge_ deal. Was it ? They ate horse meat (like the Huns did). I don’t think they particularly revered their horses for being at the heart of their culture. At least objecting goatee guy seemed to object more to the fact that Mirri was about to practice blood magic, which is “forbidden”, than to the fact she was about to bleed her the Khal’s own horse. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-2-08-the-prince-of-winterfell-5-20-no-book-spoilers/622528.md?page=6)