Still fairly confident that Jamie will kill Cersei.
I agree. I think it will be revealed that many events of the show, such as the assassination attempt on Tyrion by that kingsguard guy and the snake-necklace-threat from Dorne, have been mastered by Littlefinger. He's steadily gained more power with each passing season and we're going to look back at the end of the show and think of him as the main villain.
Still fairly confident that Jamie will kill Cersei.
I'm pretty confident that Tyrion will be Keyser Soze.
There will come a moment when John Snow and Littlefinger are locked in battle where Baylish will say, "No one ever told you the truth about your father..."
John Snow, having learned from Varys about how Littlefinger manipulated things at King's Landing when Ned Stark was beheaded will reply, "I know you had him killed!"
No," Baylish will say, "I am your father!"
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
-Jason "GRRM is secretly a huge George Lucas fan" Evans
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
Winter is here.
I'm going with Jaime as Jon's father.
Gotta love it☠
Are we spoileriffic in this thread?
If not, let's create one.
With any TV show, once the show has aired, you should feel free to talk about the episode. So a conversation about last night's Dragonstone episode would be perfectly appropriate. But, spoilers about upcoming episodes (actual leaked details, not just your speculation) should be hidden by using the spoiler text feature the prevents it from being seen unless the reader wants to see it.
Everyone agree?
-Jason "all the kidding about John Snow's father above was just kidding, ok? He is clearly the son of a Targaryn and a Stark, making him uniquely qualified to sit on the Iron Throne, rule the North, and ride a dragon" Evans
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
I'm scared for lots of the characters this season (which I guess is the point of GoT):
1. Jon is basically guaranteed to be betrayed by Sansa. It won't result in his death, but it could somehow result in the death of other characters like Brienne and Podrick.
2. Like everyone agrees, Cersei will be killed by Jaime, so I don't see how Arya's travels south can end well for her. She's winning too much, and should decide to go elsewhere - maybe she'll run into Melisandre, who will convince her to do something else with her talents. Did she kill those soldiers?
3. Tormund is going to be the first line of defense against the dead army? Bye.
4. Once Sam learns a few more things about White Walker lore, does his character have a purpose? Seems like a good candidate to be killed to make us hate a new bad guy, like Euron or his dad.
So... thoughts about last night's ep.
Arya: How long did it take all of you to figure out Walder was Arya? When the scene started I thought it was a flashback, but the moment Walder did not drink the wine, I knew it was Arya. She's a cold blooded killer! That was a great way to begin the season but I sorta wonder what is up with Arya. I guess people don't really talk about "the news" all that much for her to hear that John Snow is ruling Winterfell. It would be nice for her to return home and reconnect with the family so they can plan stuff together. It is also possible that Arya just doesn't care much about long lost brothers and sisters compared to her desire to cross names off her list (with Cersei and Jamie being the next names in her crosshairs). At first I thought the sit-down with Ed Sheeran and the Lannister soldiers was a waste, but I think it was meant to show her (and us) some of the humanity of the grunts on the front lines. Perhaps their humanity will begin to melt Arya's cold heart.
John and Sansa: While it feels like the show is setting them up for conflict, I'm not so sure. I liked that they came together after their quarrel and talked about things. I'm sure Littlefinger will try to sow discontent between them, but the show is going to have to do a lot more to convince me it is believable for Sansa to betray John in any way at this point. In the grand scheme of things, not much happened at Winterfell this episode, other than Lady Mormont again and again showing everyone else in the North that she is the biggest bad!#% is the 7 Kingdoms. I could watch her scold old men about their dishonor for several hours without taking a pee break.
Dany: "Ooooh, I am touching the sand where I took my first steps." Yawn... ok, ok, I get that this was a big personal moment for her, but it just wasn't a big deal. I know the show needs to put pieces in place and Dany needs to be in the seat of power in Dragonstone, I get it. Still, pretty uneventful start to the season for a major character and her crew.
Cersei, Jamie, and Euron: I'll skip over the uneventful map conversation where Jamie and Cersei discuss how they are boxed in on all sides. I really enjoyed Euron's audience with them, both for Jamie's disdain of the Iron Born and for Euron's brash confidence. He and Jamie were really firing veiled insults at each other and it was fun. Of course, the key moment (perhaps of the entire episode) was Euron promising to bring Cersei a gift and then leaving. I suspect that "gift" will be a major plot driver over the next several episodes, if not this entire season. Anyone have any theories about what it will be? I think he is going to kidnap Tyrion. Tyrion is the perfect gift for Cersei, someone she hates and wants to kill and also someone who would have valuable information about what Dany is up to. Any other guesses?
The Wall: So, I'm guessing those theories that Bran reaching the wall would cause it to fall down (because of how the Knight's King marked him or something like that) are proven untrue at this point. I'm glad as I would rather see some other cool way for the Knight's King to bring the wall down. Clearly, The Hound's visions are going to take him and the rest of the Brohood to the Wall. Tormund and a bunch of Wildlings are going that way too. Could anyone tell if The Hound's vision was the Army of the Dead passing the Wall or just approaching it?
-Jason "a good start to the season. As I said, they are putting pieces in place. We should get some more action very soon... I hope" Evans
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
Can I just vent first, and then I promise I'll leave it alone and move on to the good things? I'm still having trouble suspending my disbelief around Euron. The entire fleet of the Iron Islands, and presumably a significant number of its best sailors, burn Euron's fleet and take off, leaving them boatless and stuck on a bunch of, well, iron islands, with nary a tree in sight. Yet by the time it takes Yara and Theon to get over to Essos and form an alliance with Danaerys, he's got a new fleet of gorgeous vessels, and gets to King's Landing roughly simultaneous with his niece and nephew reaching Dragonstone? None of this computes for me.
Anyhoo...opening scene was very, very satisfying. Who's Arya going to pretend to be to get at Cersei? Will she somehow kill Jaime in his sleep first then pretend to be him, playing the Kingslayer theme again? Actually, I think her powers are becoming a bit too powerful and deus ex machina, so they'll be retired soon. Which is why they had the humanizing scene with the peaceful, generous Lannister soldiers.
Besides, I think Jaime's already irrevocably turned on Cersei. I disagree with JE on that map room scene. He winced at seeing her madness, which he's witnessed before. And now she's threatening to have him replaced in her bed, too.
I'm going to put myself in the (perhaps wishful thinking) minority here on the Jon/Sansa reunion. I think she's got Littlefinger's number and is playing him. Her line to Brienne seems to confirm this. He's got one blind spot, it's her, and she knows it. He made the mistake of telling her she's the centerpiece of his ultimate plans, so she's playing hard to get in order to make him the one working for her instead of the other way around. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if she feigns treachery against Jon to draw him out further and ensnare him. She's keenly aware of Cersei's relentlessness, as well as the fact that no Lannister army could get to Winterfell at this point, so the only way for her to "reach" Jon and Sansa is sowing discord through an intermediary. And as a corollary to that, she hinted at admiring some of Cersei's cunning and ability to carry through on a grudge; might we remind ourselves she's keenly aware that Baelish pimped her out to Ramsay Bolton.
Tyrion and Danaerys have multiple advantages, so either it's going to be interesting to see how they squander them, or Cersei's presence isn't long for this world and we'll move to the final war with the Night King after about half a dozen episodes here. She's got one ally, and it's seaborne. The Freys are kaput and presumably the Riverlands will revert to the Tullys, who aren't about to help her. The Tyrells and Dorne are aligned against her, and the former of those should have a large army that's relatively unscathed from the recent years.
Tyrion must be aware at this point of Euron's new fleet, but air superiority should be a huge advantage. One could ride around on a dragon and pretty easily scout its location, and the reconnaissance planes in this case can also torch an entire navy in ten minutes. He's also presumably smart enough to know that Jaime and Cersei will know they're at Dragonstone, so he can have Yara and Theon move to safety elsewhere, or let Euron come bumbling into the bay at Dragonstone and then collapse it on him. Meanwhile their superiority on the ground against a Lannister army that's spread all over the place, has been out fighting for years, and has likely left Casterly Rock poorly protected should be fairly complete, what with the Unsullied and the Dothraki. You have the latter tear through the countryside to bring the former to the gates of whatever city or fortress you choose. While the Tyrell army marches toward King's Landing to keep Cersei occupied.
At some point, a key question must be asked... what is in it for the Tyrells and Dorne? Sure, they want revenge on Cersei, but will they both just blindly back putting Dany on the throne with no other inducements?
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
A flashback never occurred to me, I assumed it was Arya from the start. I wasn't sure what she was up to - thought maybe she was going to announce a switch in allegiances and direct the men to move on the Lannisters or something - but her closing scene from last season was such a big deal I was sure they were just picking things up from there.
Demented and sad, but social, right?