Good point. Cersei’s pregnancy is making her less fatalistic.
Jamie’s riding north alone. The Golden Company is still in Essos so at this point all Cersei has is the Lannister troops, the Gold Cloaks (ie the closest thing Kings’ Landing) and a small Queensguard (her bodyguards). If Jamie was able to get the Lannister troops to mutiny & go with him then Cersei would’ve essentially just lost the Iron Throne.
Maybe she always planned to agree to send help then renege, but Jon pledging loyalty to Daenerys enraged her so much she lost control & stormed off in a tantrum nearly sabotaging her own scheme until she lucked out and Tyrion showed up trying to get her to “change her mind”.
Just how exactly did Qyburn reanimate the Mountain? Was it somehow related to whatever magic powers the Wight Walkers & wights, or an entirely different form of necromancy? What happens if the Mountain get’s within control distance of a White Walker?
The simplest explanation is that the servants make sure there’s at least one pitcher of wine in every room Cersei’s expected to set foot in right down to the privy. I doubt the maesters are aware of fetal alcohol syndrome, thought they’d probably advise pregnant women from drinking to excess. It was the changes in her behavior and the say she subconsciously touched her stomach at one point which clued Tyrion in, not her turning down a glass of wine.
I was expecting Littlefinger to demand trial by combat, and then for Sansa to immediately name Arya as her champion.
It be funny if Euron found out the hard way that they can just walk along the ocean floor like in Word War Z (yeah, I know why that wouldn’t be practical).
I think people are way overthinking how anyone could possibly believe Ned could father a child out of wedlock. First of all it’s not really considered shameful or dishonorable for a highborn man to that that, and he was a teenager when he did. Raising his bastard in his own household probably is considered very odd outside of Dorne though; I imagine usually recognized bastards get fostered our or the mother just get’s an allowance. Also the way Ned kept Jon’s mother’s identity such a big secret was a huge red flag that she was a highborn woman; there’s no reason anyone would care that much about a lowborn woman’s reputation.
That he has to care to look is a biggie. I think as Bran’s powers develop more an more the less he’s going to care about mortal affairs, even if those mortals are his own family.
I think it’s always been clear that a spoiler is something that is actual knowledge rather than speculation of any kind. Mere speculation isn’t a spoiler has always been a rule here.
But, yes, it’s dickish not to offer context that helps you decide whether to open the spoiler box.
I noticed that too - I think the fanwank answer is that a Faceless Man is so fast that no blood got on the blade. Or maybe Valyrian steel doesn’t hold blood on the blade.
Although it always seems bad ass when someone wipes their blade before resheathing it. But of course the Faceless aren’t much into flash.
Both angles here are so interesting that I think it’s likely one or both will take place. Qyburn inspecting the severed & wiggling wight hand with fascination is surely a hint at this.
On the one hand - we could have Qyburn either challenging the WWs for control of existing wights, or creating his own army; or controlling the existing wight dragon, or killing another dragon and reanimating it.
On the other hand - Cersei’s ultimate fate could involve her giving the Mountain a kill order, only to see his eyes turn blue through the helmet…
The issue is not whether Ned having a bastard something people would be shocked by, it not per se, he is a lord, they do that all the time. It’s the cumulative effect of multiple things, a famously straitlaced man claiming to have a bastard right after his imprisoned-as-a -slave-by-a Targaryean sister, dies right after he meets her.
He refuses to tell anyone who the mother is and insists on raising the child with his trueborn kids, humiliating his lady wife. Did they think he’d picked up Dornish custom when he was sent to pacify Dorne? We know at least that Stannis had his doubts as to the official story. Tywin, Varys, Littlefinger, smarts men who see through most plots and are good at identifying danger, don’t.
Yeah, my son and I immediately noticed that. Dany could’ve just jumped up and said, “No prob, Bob, I release you from your oath of fealty,” but that would’ve been too easy.
Yes, that was great.
Bran: “I see everything now.”
Sam (smiling and thinking): Wellllllll OK then, how nice for you. Weirdo.
Also a nice comic moment.
Correct. Jon took the still-moving hand from Maester Mengele and burned it.
I think it’s both. He’s a bit in love with her too, and can’t help but feel some twinges at knowing she’s hooked up with someone else.
Right. It’s all about status. The most powerful person in the room, er, Dragon Pit waits for no one; they wait for her.
As Tywin noted awhile back, Cersei isn’t as smart as she thinks she is.
I believe it was the seven kingdoms plus the Riverlands. The original seven kingdoms were —
The North (Stark)
The Vale (Arryn)
The Islands and Rivers (Greyjoy)
The Westerlands (Lannister)
The Reach (Tyrell)
The Stormlands (Baratheon)
Dorne (Martell)
The Riverlands (Tully) were split off from the Kingdom of the Islands and Rivers after they all stopped being independent kingdoms. So with the Riverlands and the Crownlands (Kings Landing), there are actually nine territories in the Seven Kingdoms.
I think Cersei is going to pissed at one or more of her courtiers - my guess is that she thought that Dany had entered with her entourage. I believe she asked Tyrion where she was.
Oh, I didn’t like Bran calling him Jon Sand. We already know he was born in the south, i.e. anywhere but the north. Sure Dorne wasn’t the first suspect. But he was Snow because he was of the north, period.
My understanding is that the name derives from the place of birth, not who the parents were. So Jon Sand would be correct for a bastard born in Dorne. Ned never revealed the place of Jon’s birth, so he was Snow by default.
Coming up from Dorne with a baby would be a big hint though. Ned was sent there to deal with any remaining resistance. That was not a secret. Not the fact he fought Ser Arthur.
I have a vague memory that when Ned returned to Winterfell after Robert’s Rebellion, Jon wasn’t an infant. He was a few years old already. But I’m not sure about that.
