that Rita's kids are budding serial killers that Dexter trains

(where for a whole book Dexter's Dark Passenger is, literally, a manifestation of the dark god Ba'al) EDIT: Sorry, dark god is Moloch. Either way - utter wank.

war is probably on its way and that's why she's leaving Winterfell because she'll have fewer patrons when it does come

I know, I'd been curious to see how they were going to be doing them and, honestly, I'm still nervous. While special effects are getting better, CGI is still one of those things that it's either done very, very well or it's not. For me, when it's not I just can't get past it and considering how very involved the dragons are going to be in the next season I was concerned for how much I was going to like it.

That being said I thought the end of the episode was a very nice reveal and well done.

Others inevitably invade everything. Come on, fucking ice zombies? What better weapon could you have than firebreathing lizards!?

that either Stannis or Mance blows the giant's horn and it has the effect that the wildlings believe, that it will topple the Wall. With the Wall gone, there's nothing stopping the White Walkers from heading south when winter comes and so the dragons will be needed.

horn

If it's correct, it explains his warg powers (wolf blood) and, I suspect,

he'll be the prophesied warrior that can activate the fire power of Stanis' sword (dragon blood).

the first two being Dany and Jon, is Tyrion. Evidence? Rhaegal was a big womanizer, sleeping with a ton of women, and he wasn't too picky about whether or not they were married. It's mentioned in the stories, though not portrayed in the movie, that Tyrion has eyes of two different colors, one the green/gold of the Lannisters, and the other darker, almost black, (if I'm remembering correctly) which was a trait of the Targeryans. The theory is that Rhaegal slept with Tyrion's mother and that Tywin killed her after the child was born. If that's true, then Jon, Tyrion, and Dany would be the three heads of the Dragon.

Targaryen's eyes are purple so it doesn't fit with Tyrion's eyes but I can see where you're going. Even so, there's still one Targaryen alive besides Dany, the Maester of Castle Black. I'm sure he won't be important because he's very old but he's still a dragon and was offered the crown a couple of times which he refused.
If I remember correctly, the mystical sword will activate with the prophesied warrior. I first thought of Jon but I also lean to Dany. And with that, do you think there may be a third mystical object to be found? Right now there's Lightbringer and Horn of Winter.
And the houses, 2 of them have their own symbols as pets, maybe there's a third showing up?

I could've been wrong about the color of Tyrion's other eye but I remember it being the possible link between him and Rhaegal.

Re: Lyanna - It isn't necessarily rape, or at least someone way back up thread suggested, but it is possible that Lyanna willingly went with Rhaegal and the spin on the situation by Robert was kidnap and rape. I have to reread the first book over the next week anyway so I guess I'll find out.

Since you brought up Aegon/Egg/Maester of Castle Black I will assume you haven't read A Feast for Crows yet and shut up.

I am pretty sure that it wasn't rape. Rather, Rhaegar was a princely prince, handsome, smart and charming - and he needed a third child for his prophecy to work, but his wife was too weak and would die in childbed. Then, Lyanna donned armor and avenged Howland Reed at the tournament in Harrenhal as the mystery knight (we know she was a good rider and fierce and a little like Arya). Rhaegar is dispatched to find the knight, and he finds her. He keeps her secret but is so enamored by her that he crowns her the Queen of Beauty at the tournament, and Lyanna is charmed. Rhaegar's wife might even be fine with it, the Dornish do seem to be not as tight-arsed around sex. Anyway, Lyanna absconces with Rhaegar, but others see it as a kidnapping, especially Robert. And when Ned "rescues" her, he finds her first protected by three Kingsguard knights and second dying in childbed, poor girl. But as all the Targaryen children are being killed, she has Ned promise her to keep the boy's identity a secret and save him.

Having just gone through the series a second time, Robert Baratheon is the *only* person to ever speak ill of Rhaegar Targaryen. Everyone else who ever utters a word about him praises him or compares others unfavorably to him. He was handsome, he was the last dragon, he was a true knight, he was talented in all he did, and so on. Sure, that doesn't make him incapable of kidnapping and rape, but at least it makes kidnapping and rape incongruous.

When reading or listening to the series with the idea of Jon as Rhaegar's and Lyanna's love child in mind, I think everything just fits too well. And I don't think Martin would put these comments in so that people who read very closely or several times or both might get a false idea - if he pulls a rug from under you, he places the rug more obviously.

As to Ned's Honor, the books have him remember Lyanna's "promise me, Ned" almost as if he's haunted by it. If you think Eddard is too honorable to lie to everybody about Jon, then you would have to accept that he dishonored his marriage with Catelyn and got a wife with child, then never spoke of that woman ever again, not even to Jon. I find it easier to believe that the dying Lyanna exacted a promise, and stupid, rigid, honorable Eddard Stark kept that promise for 17 years.

If Jon was the son of Rhaegar wouldn't he have the white hair? I think it is even mentioned several times how much like Ned he looks. It has been like five years since I have read any of the books though.

I think Jon possesses more Stark blood than Targaryen which would explain his warg porwers more than anything. The Starks descend directly from the First People so their blood could be strong than Targaryen weak blood from their constant incestuous relationships.

Howland Reed's two children, the two who come to take Bran north of the Wall

While I don't remember it, I really need to reread the series, Cersei was, at one point, going to be betrothed to Rhaegar. Aerys and the court came to Casterly Rock and the believed intent was to announce the betrothal but the king and his court abruptly left after there was a fight between Aerys and Tywin (this was before Aerys got all immolation happy) which coincided with Tywin stepping down as Hand. Several months later Tyrion is born and his mother dies in child birth. My friend's theory is that either Aerys, being a selfish king, raped Tywin's wife or Rhaegar, starting his seducing history, shtups Tywin's wife.

I almost posted to that effect, since "the Dragon has three heads". I wonder if Tyrion could be a Targaryen... might be, but I'm far less convinced of that one, up till now it's just fun speculating for me. But I do hope Tyrion gets to ride a dragon, even as a Lannister *g*

maybe Jon get's Drogon because of his black hair, Tyrion Visyerion for his green eye, and Dany get's Rhaegon for her white hair.

Drago and Lord Stark had to bite the dust.

Goddamn you Frey(Fray? it's an audiobook) you petty old bitter bastard. Did you really have to kill Robb and sew Greywind's head on his shoulders? All because he wouldn't marry one of your ugly ass daughters? I hope Arya poisons everyone in the Twins! Speaking of Arya...she seems to go from the frying pan, to the fire, to the floor, stomped all over, dumped in a toliet, flushed down a sewer, eaten by a sewer croc, shat out again...etc etc I'm kind of disappointed her swordplay hasn't become more badass, with all that traveling she seems to be getting weaker :( There was some mention she may have been captured by the Freys, her last POV ended with her getting knocked out by The Hound's axe. I just want her to stab everyone in the world, is that so wrong?

As far as asshole characters go, Lord Fray is definitely near the top of my list. I sincerely hope that GRRM eventually fucks him right off.

Well, when you consider it, what with all of her travels when has she had a change to practice? And she's still a nine year-old girl, no matter that she has a sword and a few months of instructions.

Seriously the Freys can fuck right off. I nearly lost it at that part. I seriously could not believe it. Arya just keeps getting in worlds of shit.

Zombie Catelyn Stark does for Walder Frey in the end.

Kind of disappointed there is no Jon Snow POV and very little Arya in the chapter titles - and that Cersei gets such a huge chunk. I hope I don't start liking her like I did Jaime, because, I really don't want to.

Yep, you missed it. It was in the third book and it was the elderly Tyrell matron. Basically, she gave Sansa a jewelled hairnet as a wedding present (she'd just been married to Tyrion). While they were all at dinner, the matron "adjusted" it for Sansa, taking one of the jewels which was crystallized poison and dropped it into Geoffrey's wine, thus bringing about one of the most well-deserved deaths in the series. This led to Sansa and Tyrion being blamed for Geoffrey's death.

It was better than A Feast for Crows, but now I'll be with the rest of you waiting X number of years to get pressing questions answered. Did the Bastard of Bolton really kill Stanis, or just capture Manse? Is Jon Snow dead/dying, and is he going to be zombified ala Kat Stark? Is Dany going to get her own Khalisar and save Meereen from the Ironborn and Yungkai(sp? audiobook)? What's the Crow's Eye about, the Others' work? What's up with that Black Candle and knowing Maester in Oldtown - what will Sam learn there? The return of Varys was awesome, but was he with some Children of the Forest (very pale with large eyes)? Are the Children the force behind the Others, maybe the Others some ancient creations to bring the fall of man? It doesn't seem that Bran is being prepared to save the realm....but I think his narrative through the Weyrwoods will be able to answer some long held secrets that would be unknown otherwise. And Jamie? He's fucked.

Notice for example how he reacts when he thinks he's going to be killed or at least mauled by Robb's dire wolf. There's no hint of fear, just a "let's get this over with" kind of closing of the eyes.

I also recognise the guy playing the bastard with the helmet. Who is that?!

with the bull helmet who is running away from King's Landing cos Joffrey wants to kill all of the Baratheon bastards.

That's why I hid the question, because he's indicative of a spoilery bit and he seems likely to be important in the future.

He's King Robert's eldest biological son which, technically, means that he's actually king since Joffrey wasn't Robert's.

I sort of knew that, Ren, but had also kind of forgotten about the ELDEST bit. But even if you didn't know, there's SOME son of Robert buggering off with a very ornate helmet he made himself and sitting right next to Arya. That's pretty indicative. :)

1. Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't Rhakaro live through the books?
2. Rob Snow doesn't follow Craster out into the woods; they find out about him giving his sons to the Others through the daughter/wife Sam rescues.

a LOT of shitty, shitty people die horribly in this book, like almost every asshole ever in Harrenhal

Theon's transformation into Reek.

it makes what's coming in this season during the battle at Kings Landing and what happens to him in book three so, so worth it

THAT JOFFREY SCENE WAS TOTALLY FABRICATED. It was just "we dont' have time to tell the full story of how eeeeeevil Joffrey is so we're going to just beat you over the head with it so that you cannot possibly be confused."

one of you is meant to be dead.

the rape of Lollys?

perhaps it was the warlocks who took them, and so she has Drogon flambe the place, allowing them to keep her destroying the House of the Undying in the television series?

brutally murdering a young child on screen

although I don't remember Xaros becoming King of Qarth in the books.

The time he was with Qhorin didn't really set up the right things. I'm wondering if they'll pull a switch and, with all of Ygritte's talk of the free folk have him switch sides to pull a cool cliffhanger on non-readers. Then next season flash back to a conversation with Qhorin about doing what he must, switching sides, and so on.

I'm assuming we're going to see next week that Qhorin has also been captured by the wildlings, probably injured, and he'll order Jon to kill him so that Jon will be accepted by the wildlings.

King of Qarth? Qarth doesn't have a king. Still doesn't, even in Book 7. C'mon.

the battle at the Fist of the First Men,

his antics with Brienne.

chain...or lack thereof. It's pretty key to the Battle of the Blackwater.

the giants,

The battle's beginning and there's no chain, now Tyrion's cleverness won't be clear to the viewers

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA decoy ship make everything burn

Tyrion still has a nose, I was wondering if that was even technically feasible for the series. The next episode is the season finale, where it looks like Jon is going to fight Qhorin. I hope Dany can burn the House of the Undying down walking out like badass - it would fit last years closer of her walking into the flames.

I loved the staredown between Sandor and Bronn. The alteration from the book was sufficiently ...incendiary to ignore the lack of Tyrion's chain. Tyrion's injury looked severe enough that it might result in losing his nose. Podrick Payne made an excellent showing. I loved the amount of music in the episode, the praying, the war drums, and...

Brienne fucking shit up like KAPLOW!
Dany gettin roofless! I was hoping for a bit more from the House of the Undying, but the vault was priceless and should factor into the Unsullied next season.

Still no sign of the Reeds. They aren't the most important, but the Green Dreams and Mira as a love interest made the books a lot better. Hopefully they'll find them on the way North.
Next season: the Red Wedding. The other wedding. Manse!

would lack all the little scenes of prophecy in the book. A couple wouldn't make sense, and I think others would turn out to be more spoilerish than foreshadowing. Dany may not know what Robb looks like and the book can keep it vague from her perspective, but I think the viewers would recognize him.

Maester Luwin's death hit me harder than I thought it would. And I got chills from that third horn blast even knowing it was coming. Stupid year-long wait for more.

The bastard of Bolton.

If he's locked up in the vault, then he can't have the conversation with her outside the walls of Mereen in the latest book, just like Khal Drogo's bloodrider who Jorah killed won't be there at the end of that book either. I wonder how they're going to explain it.

she doesn't get it back until book 3, I seem to remember.

Robb and Catelyn after she frees Jaime - Far from accusing her of treachery and being the grumpy, teenage king that we saw portrayed on screen, Robb immediately, and deviously seizes the opportunity to forgive his mother, firstly because he completely empathises with her having lost her husband, two younger sons and possibly her younger daughter, and secondly because he has just done a massive whoopsy by marrying Jeyne Westerling and pissing off the Freys. "Who hasn't done things they shouldn't have for love?" or somesuch [I am aware that I'm paraphrasing, clearly.]

Jon Snow vs Qorin Halfhand - Where is the conversation between them where Jon is explicitly told what he will have to do in order to gain the wildlings' trust? Where is Qorin ordering him to act as a spy? In the show, Jon basically just killed Qorin on a whim, or so it seems. I'd say "Do what you have to do" is a pretty weak reason to kill someone who respect and fear. [Again, paraphrasing, but you get the idea.] You'd at least want to double check with the guy to make quite certain that was what he meant before running your blade through his chest. Or maybe bastard blood really is cursed.

Arya - In the books, Arya is a badass. I was a little bit annoyed at the end of season 1, when she ran the first fat kid through. I felt that the show portrayed it as more of an accident than it was in the book, where she very deliberately kills the kid to keep him quiet. Ok, maybe not a massive deal, but again, a change in motivation, and one that gets more serious at Harrenhal. The changes to the Ghost in Harrenhal sequence I can kind of understand, as introducing new characters just to kill them doesn't translate well from book to screen, but Arya doesn't need Jaqen to help them escape, she saunters over and slits the guard's throat herself. All the way through, Martin goes out of his way to show Arya as someone with a growing desire to kill, and ultimately it is that desire that drives her onwards in her arc towards the Faceless men. I just don't buy that TV Arya is bold enough or ruthless enough to essentially give herself over to a cult of assassins.

A man as ruthless, talented and smart as Daxos would have had to be to gain his position would likely never be dumb enough to build an inpregenable vault with only one key - and tell people it's impregnable and only has one key - without having a hidden back door. He'll get out. And he'll be pissed.

Why did the make Sam say he didn't send the ravens, when despite his cowardice he clearly DOES do this? Is he not witless and ineffective enough for the TV people, do they think their viewers will explode at the first sign of a nuanced character? For that matter, why did they change the reason John gave to Mance for wanting to join the wildlings? I can understand the insta-reveal of Arstan as Barristan, as dragging that on for too long in a visual medium would have been a bit pointless, but where's Strong Belwas?!

Ciaran Hinds though. GREAT choice for Mance.

In which Walkers and wights lay waste to the Ranging force under Mormont.

they may just combine the characters of Belwas and Grey Worm, the Unsullied self-appointed leader.

And I think it's more likely that Barristan is going to be taking the majority of Strong Belwas's scenes, like fighting the Champion of Meereen. I'd wager on the fight with the Titan's Bastard having been cut altogether.

They could at least have taken hints from the book and put us right in an in medias res of the aftermath, rather than brief sounds of clanking swords over a black screen and then some exposition and re-establishing that Fatty McCowardly doesn't do his job right.

A dark screen and some clanging swords? Really?

They do a good job of establishing the Joff/Margaery/Cersei relationship without throwing it in our faces, too.

My only problem with the meeting between Jon and Mance and the changing of Jon's story about why he's apparently broken his oath is that 'We need to get you a new cloak' doesn't have nearly the same weight without Mance explaining his own oath breaking, and 'where did they seat the bastard?'

The TV series seems to have shifted Jaime and Brienne's captors to be Bolton's men directly, cutting out the BCs' and their betrayal sublpot. The Northerners find Qyburn alive in the wreckage, and he was the only one of the Brave Companions to have an impact on the wider story. Also in that Harrenhal scene Roose Bolton tells Rickard Karstark that he sent his best hunter after Jaime, so I imagine he is the Hoat stand-in.

Locke is a recurring character in the third season.[1] He is played by Noah Taylor, and debuts in "Dark Wings, Dark Words".[2]
Locke is a man-at-arms sworn to House Bolton, and acts as Roose Bolton's personal bounty hunter. Locke takes the place of Vargo Hoat from the A Song of Ice and Fire novels.

RAMSAY!

What an episode eh? Danearys trogdoring the shit out of slavers, the bear getting stabbed, and the bastard doing his slow reveal...

Dany started speaking Valyrian there was a quick cut to Missandei's head whipping around all "Oh shit..." .

aha! they are totally making him edric storm! i always felt gendry disappeared with little fanfare

although not exactly. they could have gendry on dragon stone with the princess and stannis, keeping him in mind and when RR decides they just exchange edrics fate with whatever RR wanted... in all of zombie starks appearences they never mention gendry :(

just have Davos send Gendry off to the Free Cities like they do Edric

until her dying breath

The "Yay! I can trust someone who wants to help me! Oh wait no I can't" thing pretty much gets played on her three or four times in the books until she finally wises up and realizes she's living in a crapsack world.

in the books, he was always going to be a minor character.

Walder Frey will have his wedding

Tyrion saying "what would I do over the sea, juggle?" (to paraphrase)

The extra red wedding casualties : Robb's wife (and unborn baby) and Brynden Tully. In the book, they both remained safely at Riverrun. Of course in the book Jeyne Westerling had been placed in Robb's bed by the Lannister in the first place, and she wasn't pregnant thanks to the special tea her mother made her drink. But Brynden Tully dead means there probably won't be a siege of Riverrun.

My mistake. You're right, he left saying he needed "a tree to piss on" which might mean he was outside of the castle when the killing took place.