Refresh my memory. Why is everyone apparently willing to sacrifice their lives for Bran?
Maesters are required to serve whoever controls the place where they are posted. It seems to me pretty logical that a maester who is also a member of the Night’s Watch will necessarily be posted at Castle Black and continue to serve the Night’s Watch.
By everyone do you mean the Reeds and Hodor?
Jojen Reed had prophetic dreams. Those dreams led him to believe that he had to help Bran. He convinced Meera to help.
I don’t think it’s clear that Hodor helped under his own volition in that moment, but he’s loyal. I don’t think that’s out of character at all.
Because he’s the Three-eyed Raven and will be important in fighting the White Walkers.
Meera protects him because she was told how important he was by her brother Jojen, who also had visions.
Hodor protected him because he was blindly loyal to the Starks.
Benjen protects him because he’s his uncle and because of his history has a special connection to the Three-eyed Raven.
Howland Reed fought with Ned Stark during Robert’s Rebellion. He imparted his loyalty to the Starks onto his children. And Bran is rightful Lord of Winterfell (where Hodor served as stable boy his entire life) and Warden of the North. In addition to the magic and visions and stuff.
There are a whole bunch of theories, but there’s nothing “inconsistent” about it. It’s quite difficult for a person to truly give up their identity and act completely uninfluenced by emotion. Arya clearly sucks at it, and although the Waif is supposedly a higher “level” in the organization than Arya, she is also an apprentice herself. This whole thing could be a test for both of them to see who the better apprentice is.
The Waif has been jealous of Arya from day one, so she’s not as good at the faceless thing as she thinks she is. It parallels the jealousy that the younger actress felt for the older actress (Arya’s mark) in the theater troupe.
Whatever it’s meant to mean, it’s pretty clear what’s going to happen now that Arya has Needle ready and is waiting for her in the dark: time for all that blindness training to pay off.
Have you seen that actress as Cassie on “Skins”?
I have always imagined Sam as an embodiment of GRR himself. That he has written himself into the story as Sam.
Haven’t seen that show. Besides the actress herself being attractive (which she is of course), I think the actual character of Gilly is adorable and don’t mind watching her scenes one bit.
By the way folks, somebody put up a gallery of frames from all the little brief visions Bran has in this episode. Some people might be interested in getting a better look, as they flashed by pretty quickly. We get a glimpse of the Mad King being mad and getting kingslayed, some sexy wildfire, and young Ned again at the Tower of Joy along with a shot of a bloody hand curling up above another. I think this is supposed to be Ned and Lyanna?
That’s the assumption.
There’s another bit of information we haven’t seen before: After he killed the Mad King, Jaime sat on the Iron Throne. Perhaps not something he would have done if he was as conflicted as he claimed.
The shadow of a dragon passing over a ruined King’s Landing is also interesting.
I’m also wondering at the bright lights seen in the sky over the snowy scenes in the North. Dragons on the horizon?
For the Faceless Men, couldn’t the “a girl” style of speech just be part of the training? Something that’s meant to break down a new recruit’s will, but doesn’t have to continue after they becomes a full member? Kinda like drill sergeants berating new recruits.
I don’t think she screwed up the story, I think she let it come out accidentally on purpose. In the carriage when Sam told her he didn’t tell his father that she is a wildling, you could tell she didn’t like the idea of passing. And then she has a tiny smirk when Tarly asks her where she’s from. I don’t think it was totally unexpected, either, considering how supportive and encouraging Sam has been with her. Maybe not the best move tactically, but she loves him. She’s seen him like his father never has.
Gullipulable.
I would have said malleable but these options look a whole lot better.
Jaqen spoke that way from when we first saw him. As I said last week, the Faceless Men have never been consistent with pronoun usage, so people complaining about it being inconsistent now are imagining that they’re supposed to be consistent with it. Clearly they’re not, they use the “a man” style when they think it’s appropriate to the context, and don’t when they don’t. They’re consistently inconsistent. It’s a feature, not a bug.
[QUOTE=Walder Frey]
You’ll show him the knife you used to kill Robb Stark’s child in his whore mother’s belly, and you’ll show him the knife you used to open his niece’s throat.
[/QUOTE]
I noticed that Walder Frey helpfully pointed out which particular Freys stabbed Talisa and cut Catelyn’s throat.
I feel that this is likely to be foreshadowing the fate of those particular Freys. As, a knife/sword in the belly and a cut throat. Very likely during the course of a treacherous ambush. I look forward to seeing it 
Thank you. Been trying to figure out why she’s familiar.
Very cool.
Who is being stabbed in the back in the 9th and 10th pictures from the end of the list? The pictures only show their shadows on the wall.
The bloody hand was Robb’s. That was more Red Wedding footage, which features prominently in the flashback pictures. (Including: Almost immediately after the bloody hand shots we see Robb being killed, which follows the chronology of the actual scene precisely.)
That’s Jaime stabbing the Mad King. The lighting and bricks are the same as in the throne room, that’s just a different angle.
Apart from Jaime and the Mad King, and dragons over King’s Landing, I noticed at least one other thing in that montage that we haven’t seen yet and that is presumably a flash forward… and possibly a major spoiler…
Wildfire exploding inside its containment area.