I agree totally that it was a dick move, especially out of the blue in an unrelated thread.
I just don’t get mad at strangers on the internet for this kind of stuff anymore because I’ve accepted that its not going to stop happening. Even if the current dick of the day is convinced to change their ways, that isn’t going to stop the dick of tomorrow. That’s all I was trying to say. One thing that will be true of the internet for the foreseeable future is that there are going to be dicks all over the place.
Totally agreed that Benjen returning would be awesome. Ever since they killed Ned I’ve been a little resentful of the explicit mystery surrounding Jon’s mother. They were anything but subtle about pointing out the mystery (“I’ll tell you about your mother when I return…”), then the one guy who has the answers has his head lopped off. Booo!
But yeah, Benjen could return. All we know for sure is that he lost his horse. (He was presumed dead when his horse came back to the wall by itself. The search parties they sent out never found any sign of him.) And that flashback sets up that Benjen could definitely be in the know.
I would remove the “especially.” It’s only a dick move because it’s out of the blue in an unrelated thread. It’s my responsibility to avoid spoilers about movies I don’t want spoiled, and I do exactly that. If this were a Star Wars thread, or even a general movies thread, and I get spoiled, that’s on me.
I wasn’t mad at Ascenray for dropping the spoiler. It happens. And my entire reply to it was this:
What I am legitimately mad about is the offense people have taken at the idea that the board culture of not spoiling shit in unrelated threads should actually be respected. Apparently I’m the asshole for stupidly opening a friggin’ Game of Thrones thread before I see The Force Awakens.
Theon said he was going “home”. Perhaps he didn’t mean The Pike at all. Perhaps he has a plan to redeem himself and as let himself get recaptred and he is the ‘prize’. Rickon would be a much better prize, though.
Actually, per notes in Wiki and IMDb, the older boy overseeing Ned and Benjen’s training is not Brandon but a young Rodrik Cassel, later Winterfell Master-at-Arms, who already has his characteristic sideburns. Brandon does not appear in the flashback.
Both scenes happened. Tyrion was reminiscing about the guy smashing the beetles.
In the first (or maybe second?) season, while Robb was off fighting the war, Bran and Rickon were left in charge of Winterfell. While Bran was hearing the complaints of the people of Winterfell, Rickon was LOUDLY smashing walnuts at the same table, right next to him, completely ignoring the conversations. It was pretty funny. The best part was how Bran completely ignored it. If that were my little brother I’d have wrung his neck. Bran is of much nobler stock than me.
Rickon and Bran never left the North. After the fall of Winterfell, Osha was taking them to Castle Black and Jon until they met Jojen and Meera. She eventually took Rickon to the Umber stronghold of Last Hearth (or was heading that way when last seen).
During one of Bran’s court sessions as acting Lord of Winterfell, Rickon distracts everyone by noisily shelling nuts with a rock until Bran tells him to stop once the meeting is over.
Tyrion told a long tale to Jaime while in prison at King’s Landing about a simple-minded cousin who liked to smash bugs with a rock.
I believe the orphan boys Bran gives the farmer are the ones that Theon ends up murdering in place of him and Rickon. I had forgotten that little touch.
A ton of people have brought this up, but I really don’t think they are going to go this “technicality” route. There’s also the technicality upon the technicality, which is that they never got around to having a funeral for him and uttering the ritual words, “And now his watch is ended.”
I think he’s going to pick up where he left off, since now the Watch needs him more than ever.
It wouldn’t have to be this season, but it’s also been five years since Mawle was on the show so it seems very possible that, should Benjen return, he could be recast. Still, I agree that it would probably leak.
On the other hand, the show is usually pretty clear about deaths instead of leading people on, even if the person then is resurrected. It seems likely he is either still alive or a white walker, so he will return to the story.
If that happens, I think he’ll be saved by someone. It seems like they were hinting at Theon since he mentioned “going home”.
