So what was with the intentional shots of guys staring at Jon Snow’s blood? Or touching his blood and getting a quizzical look on their faces? I’m color blind, was his blood a different color than normal or something?
The Sand Snakes are all bastards. Sand is the bastard name in Dorne, just like Snow in the North. They’re all Sands, therefore illegitimate.
That’s legally speaking. In reality, whoever gets hold of the reins of power magically becomes legitimate. See the House of Tudor for a real-world example. Henry 7’s claim was utter bullshit, and widely known to be utter bullshit. But H7 won the fight, therefore he was King.
I wondered that too. I paused on the blood and tried to Rorschach analyze it and all I could figure is that maybe… if you squint… it could sorta resemble a 3-headed dragon. The Targaryen symbol?
Even more than that, the Lord of Light apparently respects this premise. Robert’s bastard Gendry has “king’s blood” even though Robert couldn’t have been in power more than a few years before he was born. In the case of Shireen, the logic becomes circular. Perhaps she didn’t have king’s blood and her sacrifice was pointless. Indeed, Stannis never did become king.
I’m not 100% sure, but those dogs looked like bloodhounds. IF I’m right, well, bloodhounds are the best trackers in the world but they’d be useless in a fight because they’re too gentle and good-natured.
Bloodhounds SOUND terrifying when they’re barking, baying and howling while following a scent. But I’ve heard prison guards saying, “When n we catch up to the dogs, lots of times we’ll find them lying on the ground around the fugitive, while he pets them or gives them tummy rubs.”
I think she eventually brings JS back, but that will kill her (for whatever reason).
But wasn’t she able to conceive the “Shadow Baby” because of Stannis’ status as king?
Good point. I guess if Robert was king and the Lord of Light accepted this (which is why Gendry’s leech ceremony was successful), then Stannis being his next eldest brother is rightfully king. So why didn’t it work with Shireen? Maybe then Shireen was illegitimate? Was Selyse’s failed intervention at Shireen’s burning, and her eventual suicide, the culmination of her blocking this fact from her memory all those years? Maybe this explains why she treated Shireen so horribly.
Good episode, now I’m just bummed that I have to wait until Sunday for the next one!
Loved how Brienne and Pod rode to the rescue, I was wondering how Sansa and Theon were going to get out of that pickle. The swearing of the oaths was a nice touch.
I hate the Sands so much. I can’t tell whether they’re just using Oberyn’s death as an excuse to justify going to war with King’s Landing, or if they’re just massive idiots who don’t understand that Oberyn would be spinning in his grave over all the horrible things they’ve done in his name. Granted, it was pretty stupid of Doran and Jaime to let Ellaria anywhere near Myrcella after the attempted kidnapping. It seems like Ellaria’s coup would have happened regardless of whether Myrcella was killed, since she seemed to have plenty of supporters in the royal guard.
The scene with Cersei and Jamie surprised me. I expected Cersei to be furious at Jamie, accuse him of failing her, and push him away even more. Cersei is rapidly running out of things to live for. Very interested to see where this arc goes.
Are the Sparrows going to try Loras and Margaery? I thought they said something about a formal trial when they arrested them. But the High Sparrow was pretty dodgy about Loras’ condition, and I’m worried that they considered his crime severe enough to warrant harsher treatment, or even execution.
Aren’t they going to try Cersei still for incest? I think the walk of shame cleared everything except for that. Of course, now they have to go through Zombie Mountain to get to her.
Don’t forget the Queen of Thorns.
The snows actually did melt at Shireen’s sacrifice. Perhaps their god isn’t omnipotent - he could give them the melt, but not control the minds of his followers, so while his goal was achieved, he lost too much in the process anyway.
Except Theon specifically comments on how vicious these dogs are.
Actually, Davos et al are genuinely screwed if Jon stays dead. Davos was sworn knight to Stannis – but that entire house is gone. Ser Davos is basically a hedge knight at this point, and I’ve got to think being a hedge night way up at the wall at the start of a WINTER is not a good position. Going by transit times even in good weather it must be a couple hundred to reach a potentially friendly castle. I mean, I can’t see him wanting to swear to the Boltons, do you?
And it’s worse for the others – as members of the Night Watch just going away isn’t an option. All they can do is hold out and hope Ed gets back with some wildlings that feel they owed Jon Snow AND that it’s pretty much only the stabbers themselves that will stick to Thorne when it comes down to a fight.
This was a good setting the stage episode. Some thoughts:
I also wondered what happened to the dogs but I assume either Pod or Brienne killed them.
I think the Necklace and one of those potions are what kept her young. We have seen her in a bath without the necklace but she needed one of her options at the time.
My personal theory that the White Walkers overrun Castle Black has not changed since, conveniently, all the characters we care about there are in one room (or left a while ago). I think they will tear the Wall down in the process.
Dany should be nicknamed Yo-Yo since she has gone from Slave to Queen to Slave to Queen to Slave like a half dozen times.
I re-watched Season 5 recently to gear up for this season and the Dorne stuff played better than I remember. Its main folly was feeling so small and under populated but that was probably a budget issue. RIP Doctor Bashir. Like John Snow, he got murdered for doing the right thing.
Just a nit-pick, that wasn’t wax, it was molten gold.
I think it’s quite possible that Melisandre is completely wrong about how her powers work, and generally has very little idea what she is doing. The show has at least hinted at this possibility. If she lives I’m curious to see where her character goes from here.
A gold crown, if you will.
Dany wasn’t reborn from the fire though. She walked in alive and survived the fire. I don’t think she ever died.
Yeah, Daenerys is just immune to fire. It’s also shown prior to Khal Drogo’s death, when she bathes in extremely hot water and handles a dragon egg after it had been sitting in hot coals. She didn’t need to die to gain those powers.