For all the questions about how did so and so get to X so fast, I’ve always assumed that different amounts of time pass in the various storylines even whens shown in the same episode.
In this one only a short period passes in King’s Landing (the Sept is still smoldering) but a lot of time appears to have passed in Meereen (fleet building and arrangements making) and Dorne (the aunt has time to learn the queen is dead, get a message from Dorne then travel to Dorne and for Varys to then get back to Meereen), and at least weeks passed in Winterfell (enough to gather all the houses of the North).
Is it generally believed that the various stories are being presented in temporal lockstep?
Remember that time I predicted Wildfire blowing up part of King’s Landing, and a certain doper told me I was talking complete nonsense? Apology due.
I’m pretty sure I was the first person here to have predicted that. My predictions have mostly been spot on this year. So, not the first person to predict this, but I feel it’s highly likely: Jaime = Queenslayer.
Only by people who haven’t been paying attention. As I pointed out weeks ago, at the start of this season we had episodes which cut between Jon Snow dying and being resurrected within 24 hours while Arya’s story was skipping through months at a time. It’s always been clear that the stories are unfolding at the speed of drama, and while they’re happening around the same time, they’re not always simultaneous.
The Targaryens also practice polygyny (at least on occasion) so if Daenerys turns out to be barren after all she can just marry Jon and let him be her co-ruler (on parchment) and Jon can take Sansa as a secondary wife. Then Daenerys can recall Daario and name him captain of her Queensguard, and everyone will live happily ever after. Well except for Sansa who get’s to spend the rest of her life as a royal broodmare and having to have sex with a man she was raised to believe was her brother.
Fantastic. Two really good episodes in a row, and I love that the writers are starting to tie things together. And… it was nice to be taken by surprise-- I never guessed that Aria would emerge until she reached to remove the mask. A very satisfying season ending all 'round!!
Same; I totally didn’t see Arya coming at all. I especially didn’t notice her eyeing up Jaime, though I do remember Bronn’s comment. I’ll have to re-watch that bit.
Pretty sure Walder was depicted as having already eaten a slice and was asking for seconds. I’ll have to check that out on re-watch as well.
EDIT: Oh yeah, and loved the last two episodes. Excellent recovery after the Arya/Waif terminator sequence stumble.
Cersei is such a tragic character. All her scheming, supposedly for the sake of her family just gets them killed. If Robert Baratheon was still on the throne all her kids would be alive and Jaime would have two hands.
This last little scheme of hers is the one that finally gets HER killed.
The only problem I have with this from a storyline perspective is that it doesn’t make the war that’s coming between House Targaryen and House Lannister very interesting. I don’t see any way that Cersei gets her forces inspired enough to fight effectively for her and the people certainly won’t be behind her. How much of a kingdom is even left? The North is against her, the Dornish are against her, the Tyrells are against her. House Frey has just been decapitated.
The one thing I’m wishing for that didn’t happen is for Bran to get his legs back. I’m really tired of seeing other people dragging his ass around. Oh, and Jon needs to lose the man-bun!
Unlime the Boltons, the Freys haven’t been eradicated. Were those two in the pie the only boys? He still bas a bunch of girls even if they were. Another thought-- Bran isn’t going to lay in the snow forever. Will he and Arya end up back in Wintrfell just in time to fight the dead?
Speculation for next season? As I wondered already, will Dany land at Casterly Rock? The Iron Islands? Dorne? Will Jaime head back north to re-take Winterfell and The North? As per Benjen, the dead still can’t pass the wall. What’s up with that? How am I supposed to wait until next year?
Apparently the dead can’t pass the wall without destroying it.
As for Jaime, he can’t take back Winterfell and defend against Dany’s army. Frankly, I don’t think they have the strength any more to do either, much less both. The North is now united and Dany’s army is a lot more formidable than Stannis’.
Did I see rightly that some of the ships in Dany’s fleet had the red sun of Dorne on their sails? Do we assume that Varys sailed back to Meereen with the Dornish fleet?
Actually, he tried to burn all of Kings Landing. There’s probably a visceral reaction from Jaime to seeing part of Kings Landing burn that way, but I don’t think there will be a break between them just yet, and if there is, it’s going to have more to do with the fact that Cersei got all their children killed. I hear that breaks up relationships.
But I don’t think he’ll actually kill her until the Targaryens are at the walls and she decides she’d rather burn the whole city than let them have it.
Yes, but that whole twincest thing would have been revealed, so whether she and her kids (and Jaime) would still be alive and well is not at all likely.
On a lighter note, the scene in which Sam arrives at the Citadel reminded me very much of my interactions with university administration, right down to the awkward-jaunty “Hello!” addressed to a grumpy academic.
I had a feeling Walder was in trouble when they showed he was alone in that big hall, and I knew it was Arya as soon as he commented that she was new.
Why exactly did Jon not execute Melisandre? Does he plan on somehow using her in the war to come if she’s off in the south?
ETA: I’m not sure why the little birds had to be the ones who killed Pycelle. Wouldn’t it be more reliable, easier to accomplish (how did they get those kids to do all that stuff?) and easier to cover up if one or two adults did it?
The last time we heard Arya’s shit list, Beric, Thoros, and Melisandre had been deleted from it. As had the Hound. So while they’re probably not exactly forgiven, they’re also probably not of much interest to [del]Inigo Montoya[/del] Arya.
Ah yes, forgot that minor problem that set this whole thing in motion.
So we’ll give her the necessity for that one, but her hatred for her little brother, her wanting to cut Margaraey down to size, it all led to this disaster. and it doesn’t seem as if she’s learned anything. If anything, she’s likely to become completely unhinged and her brother is going to have to kill her.
