Maybe it is a subversion of classical tropes, but then the term “evil” wouldn’t apply here, would it? Short-sighted, maybe?
I wonder if this is more of Martin drawing from history. I’ve read a lot of medieval and “modern” European history recently, and one of the things that struck me is the way Islam was able to conquer so much territory, largely because Christian Europe couldn’t stop squabbling amongst itself long enough to put any kind of permanent stop to “the Turk”.
Also, unrelated to the current season, but it made me laugh — a bumper sticker I saw today:
GUNS DON’T KILL PEOPLE
GEORGE R.R. MARTIN
KILLS PEOPLE
The big twist is going to be that the white walkers are not evil. The only thing i got to back up this theory is that the lord of light is obviously a total dick.
Just like I missed the Bible chapter where it lays out which bathroom people can use, I am guessing that it’s less what R’hllor asks from his followers so much as what they think he wants them to do.
After Jon kills his mentor in order to infiltrate the wildlings, they burn the body so that he won’t come back. So, the wildlings at least believe that any dead can come back. And they probably know better than anybody else.
Hey look some longer character development scenes! I enjoyed that episode… though, c’mon with the Tower of Joy! Cutting just as Ned was going up?
Aww, come on Shaggydog is supposed to be hunting unicorn-goats!
I was a little annoyed Ned wasn’t fighting with his greatsword Ice in the tower of joy scene. Not to mention the great-swordsman-fights-with-two-swords silliness.
Indeed, not to mention cheapening out on not including Dawn. Though the fight was all sorts of fantastic otherwise.
So does the smalljon (I assume that’s who that was) fill the Manderly role? He gets ahold of Rickon, and then possibly enacts some sort of revenge/retaking of the North with him?
It would be a nice detail if Umber is an honorable and loyal guy to the Starks, and that’s why he refused to bow to Ramsay - not for the reasons he gave, but because he intends to betray him and doesn’t want to break an oath.
It sure would be nice for The North Remembers to manifest in some sort of righteous vengeance.
I guess they’re eschewing the name Robert Strong in the show. I could have sworn they introduced him that way in last season’s finale, but they’re just calling him Ser Gregor now.
He might, but if so I don’t think presenting Rickon or looking Shaggydog make sense.
I think there’s a very good chance that wolf head wasn’t Shaggydog (it did seem a bit small) – the “Umber won’t bend the knee or swear an oath” scene was in there for a reason, and I think that reason might be that they’re secretly loyal to the Starks (and are willing to fight the Boltons, as long as they don’t break any oaths).
Of course, that leaves the question of why they’d leave Rickon with a psychopath… but Rickon is technically their liege lord, and from what I gather of his personality, he’d be perfectly willing to put himself in the lion’s mouth (and may have ordered the Umbers to comply) if it’s part of a plan to put the Starks back in power.
Perhaps, but that’s kinda sloppy, no? Shaggydog is supposed to be the size of a pony. No regular wolf or dog should immediately impress Ramsay like that. Did look small though, and I really prefer the Umbers to be Stark loyalists even if it means glossing over how this plan seems pretty dumb. I’m also sad that the Greatjon seems to be dead. That dude had a killer scene in Season 1.
I do think we’ll get some sort of human pie this season, if not Frey, then Bolton.
It was jarring to see Rickon be that tall. At this point in the books he’s what, 5 or 6?
I’m not sure if Ramsay’s ever seen the dire wolves – his dad certainly did (since he fought with Robb and Grey Wind)… and isn’t it convenient that the Umbers show up as soon as Roose is dead? If they were planning something, it’d make great sense to wait for Roose (who’s much smarter than Ramsay) to kick off, or at least seize the opportunity once they got the news.
If the Umbers really planned to fight with the Boltons, then why not do it when the much smarter (and less psychotic) Roose is in charge – someone they could actually make a deal with and have a reasonable chance of not being betrayed?
And remember, again, the refusal to kneel or swear an oath – the writers put that in there for a reason. Maybe it’s misdirection, but maybe not. I’m excited to find out!
Yes, but he was never that young in the show. The kids were all aged up 3-4 years. I think he started at 8 and a couple years have passed.
I agree. I’m more and more convinced that Smalljon Umber and Rickon have a plan to overthrown Ramsey. It may even involve Osha (that’s her name, right?) getting into Ramsey’s bed and then slicing him up.
I was pretty shocked at shaggydog, but then I did wonder about the size of that head. It could’ve been just a large regular wolf, I guess. I do remember that Grey Wind’s head was almost the same size as Robb’s whole torso. They’re huge. But I don’t think very many people have actually ever seen one, especially up close. Still holding out hope for trickery, there. And the Umber (I’m also confused as to what supposedly happened to the Greatjon, and I assume this guy is the Smalljon) is just a bit too awesome to be somebody we’re not supposed to like.
I was also thinking (loosely with regard to the size of the wolves) – they use camera tricks to make those dogs that play the direwolves (and Wun Wun the giant) look HUGE…couldn’t they do the reverse to make Rickon look smaller? Good god this little kid disappeared for a little bit and grew right the hell up in what, a few months? I don’t know how much time is supposed to have passed, actually, but it doesn’t seem like it should even be a couple of years. Sheesh. They probably could’ve even found another cute little blonde kid to replace him with, for all we’ve seen of Rickon so far, and it wouldn’t have been as bad as replacement Daario. Though then they’d have to establish for us that it’s really supposed to be Rickon first, rather than a surprise delivery at Winterfell…anyway, just a shower thought, they couldn’t Hobbitize the kid just a little?
We saw Gilly give birth, and we saw the baby this episode, so however old that baby is now is how much time has passed since Season 3, Episode 3.
Regarding ShaggyDog, according to the guy who doesn’t kneel the Umbers are the furthest north, closest to the wall, so if anyone were going to try and find a feral direwolf to kill and use as a replacement head, they’d be in the best position to do so.
The show got rid of the switching Gilly’s baby plotline, right? Because that’s what I thought when she said that thing about "your son"and then the baby close-up. I thought, it isn’t his or your son either, Gilly.
Maybe it was a bone thrown to the book readers.