As you say, Cersei THINKS she’s a lot smarter than she is. She assumed the Sparrows were cynical opportunists like herself, rather than True Believers. That’s why she was completely unprepared for the chief Sparrow’s betrayal.
While I agree that the show’s plot has some holes, I think the scene to which you refer does a have purpose: to show that Cersei is now exacting revenge on the people that humiliated her, and perhaps that she’s recruited some spies amongst the people. I assume that the pissing guy wouldn’t have said all that in front of the Mountain so someone may have ratted him out.
Cersei is like Ramsay and Theon, unable to see the long game. They each only see a move or two ahead, and can’t project themselves into their opponents (or allies) position to figure out what they will do next.
The dead rangers at castle black were found close to the wall, somewhere they clearly they did not die. They could have simply been raised by a White Walker then walked there and played dead. Which actually makes more sense than going far from the wall then dying after almost making it back.
Sam also pointed out they had been dead a long time and there was no smell of decay. That all points to them having died a while before they were found, which would not have happened close to the wall.
It might be that they didn’t revive just then, but were created long ago and just waited outside. You’d hope the 3 eyed crow would have tried to warn Bran if that was the case though.
It seems to me to be something that should be extremely obvious not to do. Warning issued for “being a jerk”.
On a side note…I was pondering the possibility of starting the whole thing over from the beginning (for instance, on behalf of my wife who’s never seen any of it). It occurred to me that if I were to do so, I could fast forward through all the scenes of Ramsay torturing Theon. I’d save about 12 hours of time (and a good deal of my faith in humanity) and not have missed a thing.
I suspect it’s too obvious to be true, but it struck me that Wyllis is similar to Wylla, who “so they say” bore John Snow. Might Hodor have something to do with whatever the the X+X=J story turns out to be?
(I have no idea if that sort of name game is something that GRRM or the GOT writers would normally do.)
I assumed that the new Lord Karstark is playing long-game against the Boltons. He found the party that was to bring Sansa back, so he knew that the the air of legitimacy intended by marrying her to Ramsay was lost, and that the Bolton claim as lord paramount of the North was made vulnerable by Sansa’s escape.
Wights don’t strike me as having enough brain power left to play possum under their own volition.
Maybe if wights aren’t under the direct influence of a White Walker they go dormant until they sense people around. However, the rangers didn’t (re-)revive for hours or days after people had found them, while Bran’s attackers revived almost instantly.
Actually, I suspect the behavior of wights has more to do with the demands of the plot rather than logic or consistency.
Yeah, hyperbole of the year award here. More like 12 seconds.
I would suggest that reviving in the presence of people and animating for the first time (as I presume the wight that attacked Jon/Jeor did) are two different things.
However, yes, the show is more interesting in drama than consistency.
Or watch them all together while the Itchy and Scratchy Show theme played.
Ramsay had 20:59 of screentime in season five (good for 11th highest character that season)
and 27:38 for seasons 3 & 4 combined.
Most of the latter was Theon torture time wasn’t it?
We were treated to pretty much an entire episode worth of Ramsay in seasons 1-5 and now season 6 seems to give us even more!
Right, the issue is not that GoT kills characters randomly. It’s that GoT doesn’t save characters when the story is better served by their deaths. Most other popular series will always try to find a way to save the “hero” or a popular character, regardless of what the story really demands. That’s what makes GoT unusual—not random deaths of popular characters; rather lack of random saving of popular characters.
Jon Snow really needed to be alive to be able to complete certain important aspects of the story. And the revival by the Red Priestess doesn’t come out of a deus ex machina. The basis for Snow’s resurrection is well laid long before it happens.
DigitalC was the one who suggested that the rangers who reanimated in Castle Black to attack Jon/Jeor were reviving for a second time.
Under their own volition, no. Under orders from a white walker, why not? they are smart enough to fight, even use weapons, even when they are down to bones. Playing possum and waiting for an opportune time to attack does not strike me as that far fetched. The ones buried outside the three eyed raven’s tree were doing exactly that weren’t they?
It seems to me more complex behavior than we’ve seen from wights, even under White Walker control. Wights seem like they are on autopilot and not capable of making judgments on their own.
They jumped up automatically as soon as anyone entered the area. They didn’t “wait for an opportune time to attack” as the revived rangers would have.
They are smart enough to actually fight, with like actual weapons, against real fighters. This are not Walking Dead zombies. They can handle complex behavior. They were even smart enough to go after the Lord Commander.
I like this idea, but it could also be Jon Snow marrying the Queen of the White Walkers. I will be disappointed if this series ends with Dragons destroying the white walkers with fire and they live happily ever after. I am hoping for something more subtle than that.