I watched it again and I’m still not sure. The one on the horse was some kind of leader so it would make sense that he shows more purpose. If the zombies are possessed in some way maybe it’s just less work for whoever controls them if they’re kind of shuffling and vacant. There was one other on a horse and you only saw the back of that one but it looked more like the average zombies in terms of its clothes. Also the horse appears to be a zombie horse too, but it can obviously follow commands which seems to negate the idea that zombies would be incapable of controlling a horse.
I can easily see any of these things being explained by oversight, the rule of cool or just “it’s magic”, though. I’m just not sure.
So, a lot happened this season, but not all that much changed.
The Lannisters hold King’s Landing and the throne.
Robb is winning in the North.
Dany is on the other side of the world, with only a few followers.
There’s a threat of White Walkers from the North.
Stannis is a rather peripheral threat.
Renly died, the Tyrells are allied with the Lannisters, Winterfell is burned down - but compared to the first season, this one didn’t move too much. Most of the major pieces are roughly in the same place they were before.
The season began and ended in the same place. But in between there was a lot of action. Tyrion woukd disagree that Stannis was a peripheral threat for instance.
Yes and no. Here are characters who are in VERY different places than they were at the end of last season:
-Jon
-Arya
-Bran/Rickon/Hodor/Osha
-Theon
-Renly
-Tyrion (arguable I guess)
Introduced this season:
-Brienne
-Stannis/Davos/Melisandre
Fairly similar to where they were end of last season:
-Sansa
-Cersei
-Joffrey
-Littlefinger
-Varys
-Tywin
So the people for whom the situation is most changed are those in King’s Landing. And to a certain extent, you could say the same thing about, say, the hobbits in Lord of the Rings. They started in the shire, they ended in the shire. In their case, they had a huge-ass battle, and they won, and in winning they won the right to continue to do what they had been doing.
I think the biggest change is that at the end of last season the Lannisters were on the ropes and surrounded by enemies. Now Renly is gone, Stannis was crushed, and Robb lost his most valuable prisoner,pissed off the Freys and Karstarks and lost Winterfell. Not to mention they gained the Tyrells as allies and possibly Dorne through Myrcellas marriage pact.
Another change (albeit minor) is that there’s no longer a Dothraki threat. Admittedly, they were only a threat because of Dany’s ambition, but the Dothraki culture was an interesting change.
Will the Dothraki be players again, or did that end forever when Dany left?
ETA: And for S2 changes, should we add the Jaqen and the Faceless Men? Did Syrio ever refer to himself as a Faceless Man?
It probably isn’t significant, but out of all the things that Arya could have said in her last meeting with Jaqen, it seemed like it might have meant something. Both Syrio and Jaqen helped Arya.
Also, on another board, there’s been speculation that Syrio was a Faceless Man, and even some spec that Jaqen was Syrio.
