Well everybody, it looks like another season came to an end.
Like in season 2, they left their shocker for episode 9 and kept 10 a little more quiet, trying to wrap things up. I’m a little surprised that they do that, as you would think you would want to end with a shocker. But the world and story of Game of Thrones is so big, I kind of understand them needing to set a reminder on where everyone is, and what’s going in (so as possibly to not feel as lost when the next season begins).
This finale might have been a little more “open-ended” than the previous seasons as well, but that is due to the fact that they split the book (book 3) into two seasons. Things will start playing out a little differently (as far as book-to-show ratio) as of next season, but more on that later.
So… where is everyone…
Bran makes it to the Wall, where coincidentally, happens to be the same castle that Sam knew of the underground tunnel – and so they meet. Sam recognizes Bran as Jon’s brother, and helps Bran and his crew across the tunnel and send them off with well wishes. Him and Gilly make it to Castle Black, where they debrief his entire story beyond the wall. He reports on the White Walkers and Maester Aemon , who in turn has him send every single raven out with letters to every kingdom.
Ygritte catches up to Jon Snow, and we see that despite their love, she shoots him… a few times. Poked with arrows, Jon manages to run off, and barely makes it to the Wall himself, collapsing in front of Sam and the other brothers.
Roose Balton is finishing off the North men (Stark and all his allies), as he was given the title Warden of the North (treacherous bastard). Even in his conversation with that POS Walder Frey, you can tell he is a conniving untrustworthy character. What’s more, it runs in the family… we finally find out who has been torturing Theon… Balton’s bastard son, Ramsey Snow (Snow being the last name given to bastards of the North, if you remember). Looks like he’s turned Theon into his little pet and will now be calling him ‘Reek’. And so the north is now pretty much finished and done with.
What remains is the Greyjoy and Balon’s proclamation of being King of the Iron islands (along with trying to hold on to all those western coastal castles and towns he’s managed to sack). Ramsey sends Balon a package, and gives him the chance to give up the coastal towns and revoke his proclamation of “king”. In the package… Theon’s manhood. Balon refuses to give up, despite the threat of further body parts to follow; clearly, having no love for his only son. On the other hand, Yara does still love her little brother, and sets off with a small crew of the best Ironmen she can find to go save him.
The other King still proclaiming himself as the rightful one is Stannis. Planning to sacrifice Gendry to the fires (Mellisandre believing the blood from the leeches were not enough) he is interrupted of the event as Davos, being the kindhearted one, saves him and helps him escape in time. Before Stannis sends Davos to be executed, they receive word from the Nights Watch that the White Walkers are heading towards the wall. Finally Mellisandre sees that there is a bigger picture to all this, and it is beyond the squabbling of kings. Stannis now has a new purpose.
As far as our little brat of a King, it seems like everyone is trying to keep his ridiculous demands at bay. After Tyrion warns him to stay away from Sansa (he wanted to serve her Robb’s head during a dinner), even Tywin literally sends him to bed. He gives a fit, and things get intense, and you start to wonder if Joff will go crazy and have somebody killed – we already know he’s the one who tried to have Tyrion assassinated in the past as is, so…
We wrap up the Lannisters with them gloating over their victory. Tyrion hates the fact the Robb was murdered in that way, which happens to be one of the most dishonorable ways to kill ones enemy – when he is a guest in your house. Tywin says he does it all for the family name, and that’s all that matters. We also see how much Tywin actually hates Tyrion, admitting to the fact that if it wasn’t for his “name” (being a Lannister), he would have had him killed when he was born, for being a dwarf. I am constantly feeling worse for Tyrion… poor guy. Jamie finally makes it down, and we only get to see the moment he see’s his sister… I wonder how that relationship will go now.
Arya seems to have lost hope in everything. Just hearing a group of Frey’s badmouth her family, she jumps off the horse, plays it innocent and murders the man with a most gruesome stabbing; over and over and over again. Clegane, jumping off the horse to kill the rest of the group, seems to like this side of Arya, and lets her do her thing. This darker side of Arya puts things in a new perspective… for the first time since the end of season one, she literally has nowhere to “aim” for. Her entire family (sans Bran and Rickon, which she is unaware of) is gone, and Jon Snow is “unavailable” as a brother of the Nights Watch. What lies in store for Arya now?
Finally , we have the mother of dragons. After having won the city in the last episode, Dany awaits for the slaves to exit the city and take their first steps of freedom. Her speech to them, and them having freedom, not only shows us that Dany is clearly well intentioned and loving, but we see that her people now love her more than any king or queen could ever wish for. They lift her up and praise her as mother (or Mhysa) and we now get a complete picture of who Daenarys is… Her soldiers respect her, her people love her, her generals adore her, and well… she has dragons that are basically her children. She’s been unstoppable at sacking the first 2 cities that defied her, and now she will continue travelling west, as she slowly gets closer to her homeland!
Season for will be the most intense, and dramatic, season yet. We know for a fact that it will be the second half of book 3, but I personally thing that it will include parts of the following books too. You see, 4 and 5 are basically one huge book… half the characters in one, half in the other… so, as far as a “television show” goes, you just can’t split it up like that. I have also witnessed that the show changes and cuts out a lot of the “middle men” stories and characters… there is no need to overly confuse the audience with extra characters and story when it can basically be told with them (confusing as it is already, for those who haven’t read the books). And having already included scenes from the future books (like Theon/Reek, who was absent from the books for a while, yet kept in the show to keep up). I truly believe that the end of season 5 will be back on track with the end of books 5 (and what a crazy ending that will be… ugh… seriously, these books are crazy). The author George Martin, aiming to have a total of 7 books, claims the last 2 will be huge. That leaves me to believe that, if produced properly, they wont need to split the into 2 seasons each, but maybe 3 seasons between the 2 of them. This will keep the show to a total of 8 seasons, which is actually not that bad… long enough to keep the series complete and a strong part of our lives for those year, but not too long where it starts dragging out (HBO’s Soprano’s reached 6, and True Blood is on 6 right now, with “rumors” of only one more season to go). I guess we’ll see. So long as the production is as good as it is now, I know I’ll be happy.
That’s it for now… Filming for next season will be starting soon, so stay in touch with us here at Don’t Forget a Towel, as we bring you any and all news related to the show.
~mozeus
