Winter is Coming (GoT is back)

[Mr. Morden]

Isn't indications that next episode will be all about #bastardbowl, similar to how the Wall battle against the Wildlings was an entire episode in itself?

I'm not sure.  I thought I read somewhere that one of the behind the scenes videos indicated that we'd also be getting at least a little of Meereen in Episode 9, but my memory might be playing tricks on me.

[Mr. Morden]

I was wondering how many seasons were left, and decided to just look it up myself.  2 short seasons of 7 and 6 episodes.  So we only have 15 episodes left.  Just FYI for anybody that was wondering the same.

link

I don't think they've actually confirmed that Season 8 will be 6 episodes.  It's still kind of in rumor land.  I think they're just now finishing the writing of Season 7, so they probably want to leave themselves some wiggle room on the exact length of Season 8, for when they actually break those stories.

[Mr. Morden]

My bets for episode 9 deaths are that two or more of Tormund, Wun Wun, Rickon, Ramsey dies.

I think Tormund is safe because he's the only Wildling we know.  They need a "face" for the Wildlings going forward, and if Tormund was going to die, they probably would have already introduced a backup option for leader.

I am wondering about Davos and Mel though.  Since the trailer makes it look like Davos finds out about Shireen, how does he react?  Do either Davos or Mel die, or will they actually learn to coexist, even with Davos finding out about Shireen?

[Mr. Morden]

My bets for episode 9 deaths are that two or more of Tormund, Wun Wun, Rickon, Ramsey dies.

I think Tormund is safe because he's the only Wildling we know.  They need a "face" for the Wildlings going forward, and if Tormund was going to die, they probably would have already introduced a backup option for leader.

I am wondering about Davos and Mel though.  Since the trailer makes it look like Davos finds out about Shireen, how does he react?  Do either Davos or Mel die, or will they actually learn to coexist, even with Davos finding out about Shireen?

I dunno, I think those are great points and questions.  I'm 1,000,000% sure that Melisandre will die before the end of the series.  It's possible Davos could go with her.  Davos will find out this episode, and he will be PISSED.  It's probably too early in the series for her to go, though - it's possible her death/a confrontation will be set up that will play out in season 7.1.

Melisandre did say that she saw visions of herself walking through Winterfell, with the Bolton banners having fallen to the ground, or something like that.  Also, back in Season 3, she told Arya that they'd meet again.  So I assume she survives this season.  Davos, I don't know.

Maybe Mel does die in Season 7 though, and her role gets taken over by Thoros.

Incidentally, speaking of the BwB, now that the Hound appears to be marching north with the BwB, does this spell trouble for Littlefinger?

By which I mean....let's say Littlefinger helps the Starks take Winterfell, and keeps working with them into next season, while scheming behind their backs.  The one thing that could screw up his plans would be if Sansa and Jon found out about the fact that he betrayed their father to Joffrey back in Season 1.  Luckily for him, most of the people who would know about that are dead, or (like Cersei) busy with other things and/or not seen as trustworthy by the Starks.  But there is one person who was in the throne room when the City Watch turned on Ned, and thus might have some understanding of Littlefinger's treachery, who *maybe* Sansa would listen to: The Hound.  And it looks like he might be in a position to reunite with her next season.

[Mr. Morden]

- Cersei's trial goes badly, tommen probably doesn't yet die, I think Cersei lives until next season where she tries to use wildfire after tommen dies and gets killed by jamie

My guess is that there won't be a trial.  From the preview, it looks like maybe a trial at least starts for Loras, but I doubt Cersei would even show up for her trial.  If she's going to use wildfire, she just uses it, before a trial even starts.  And I expect she'd do it next episode, rather than have that storyline drag out until next season.  I think it's important that, if she goes all Mad Queen, it happens when Jaime isn't around.

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You mean that Bran sends him some kind of telepathic message when he's in the crypts?  Maybe.  I do think there's a chance that he encounters something interesting in the crypts when he goes to bury Rickon, but I'm not sure it'll be a message from Bran.

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Yeah, from the preview, it looks like Jaime takes the Lannister troops to a celebration with the Freys.  If the spec about Arya knocking off the people on her kill list (starting with Walder Frey) is accurate, I wonder how that'll play out, and what role Jaime would play.  Plus we have other characters wandering around the Riverlands.  The BwB and the Hound are supposed to head north, which means that they'd pass through the Twins.  Do they somehow get involved in Reverse Red Wedding Justice?  Do they run into Brienne too?

[Mr. Morden]

I'm a bit disappointed. Why are all characters so sh*t at what they do all of a sudden?

Jon's fcking charge against the Bolton army is unbelievably dumb and actually immoral. He was taking an action that would kill his men just because he let his emotions control him. Pathetic.

And we're supposed to believe that Littlefinger snuck an entire army of the Vale right up to the gates of Winterfell without anyone in the North noticing? How the hell does that even happen??

And why didn't Sansa tell this to Jon? They could have won the whole battle so much easier with much less loss of life if they had done that. Sigh.

I'm basically in agreement.  The episode looked cool, but the characters acted dumb.  Would have been great if Jon had been able to come up with some creative tactics or something, or if the Wildlings had used some sort of guerilla tactics, rather than just charging straight at the enemy.  But alas, it was not to be.

The real reason Sansa didn't tell Jon was because the writers made it that way so that it made the battle more suspenseful.  In universe, it made no sense.  If she'd told him, then Jon could have just maneuvered his army to some kind of rendezvous with the Vale army, and they could have swooped in and crushed Ramsay.  But the writers had to make it this way so that the battle would start before the Vale forces arrived.

And I'm also disappointed that Roose (earlier in the season) warning Ramsay against earning a reputation as a "mad dog" had no pay off.  No one defected from Ramsay's side.  He only lost because the Vale showed up.

[Mr. Morden]

One thing about "barely" having enough ships to take Dany's entourage to Westeros: Couldn't the ships make two trips if they have to?  Even half of her army would be plenty to at least hold onto some territory in Westeros where they could chill for a while.  Then send the ships back to get the rest.  How long would that take?  A few weeks?

[Mr. Morden]

So, looking ahead to the finale…usually with GoT season finales, they have scenes that check in with just about every storyline, but there’s only big plot movement in about two of them.  I guess the one that we’re all expecting to get the most screen time this time around is King’s Landing.  They’re building up to….something in that storyline.

I guess two of the most common predictions for the episode are: 1) Tommen dies (we know he’ll die eventually, because of the prophecy) and 2) Cersei uses wildfire to kill her enemies.

I have no idea if it’ll go this way, but if I was writing it, I would first have Cersei do something like use wildfire to just destroy the sept (killing all the Sparrows), not the whole city.  Then have Tommen confront her about it.  If he figures out that she’s the guilty party, he challenges her on why she would do something like that if she’s innocent, as her name could have been cleared in a trial.  Then, after pushing her on it, she admits that she’s not innocent, and it comes out that yes, she killed Robert, and no, Robert isn’t actually Tommen’s father.

That would be satisfying, for at least this viewer, if the uber-naive Tommen is actually confronted by the horrible-ness that is his mother, the fact that his own kingship is built on lies, and thousands of people fought in the various wars to secure the claim of both him and his brother, even though the throne shouldn’t have been theirs.  Have him face up to how awful his mother really is, and then have him reject her.  At which point….maybe he kills himself?  Then Cersei is faced with the fact that her only remaining son hated her in the end, and killed himself in despair all because of how her family was playing the game of thrones, and she burns down the rest of the city after having a mental breakdown.

[Mr. Morden]

Incidentally, speaking of the BwB, now that the Hound appears to be marching north with the BwB, does this spell trouble for Littlefinger?

By which I mean....let's say Littlefinger helps the Starks take Winterfell, and keeps working with them into next season, while scheming behind their backs.  The one thing that could screw up his plans would be if Sansa and Jon found out about the fact that he betrayed their father to Joffrey back in Season 1.  Luckily for him, most of the people who would know about that are dead, or (like Cersei) busy with other things and/or not seen as trustworthy by the Starks.  But there is one person who was in the throne room when the City Watch turned on Ned, and thus might have some understanding of Littlefinger's treachery, who *maybe* Sansa would listen to: The Hound.  And it looks like he might be in a position to reunite with her next season.

Bumping this spec just to add one thing: While the above is more of a Season 7 prediction, I'd say there is a tiny (very tiny) chance it could come up next week if Brienne does run into the BwB.  I suppose, if that happens, Brienne could have a chat with the Hound about what's been happening since she almost murdered him, and she'd mention that she's in the Riverlands to recruit for Sansa, whose only other option is Littlefinger, at which point the Hound could mention Littlefinger's betrayal of Ned in Season 1.

Highly unlikely that this'll happen, but if it does happen then you can call me a genius for having thought of it.

[Mr. Morden]

The soundtrack for Season 6 has been posted on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCebFNO-RCwbhoKXM8djIitA/videos

It includes tracks that haven't appeared on TV yet, because they're for the season finale.  The track titles give hints as to which storyline they'll appear in, but there's nothing super-spoilery, like "Tyrion dies" or "Dany marries Yara".

[Mr. Morden]

It seems like they kind of have to expose the R+L =J concept this episode, it's been building up for too long.

I was thinking….what if the episode confirms via Bran-vision or some other means that not only is R+L=J, but that Lyanna and Rhaegar married before Jon’s birth, meaning that Jon is the Targaryen heir, ahead of Dany in the line of succession?  Do this near the end of the episode, just before cutting to a final shot of Dany and her entourage setting sail for Westeros.

Thus, the episode creates a dramatic irony at the end: Just as Dany finally gets on her way to claim her “rightful” place on the throne, we, the audience, are finally clued in to the fact that her claim is complete B.S.  Thus, reinforcing the notion that it’s all B.S.  The “correct” ruler is whoever people believe is the correct ruler, based on whatever story they tell themselves.

[Mr. Morden]

One other finale prediction: I’m guessing that there’s a good chance that we’ll have a scene checking in with Sam?  I mean, at some point he’s got to reach Oldtown, right?  I’m wondering if they saved Sam’s arrival in Oldtown for the finale because he’s actually going to discover something pretty interesting about the White Walkers there right off the bat?  Something that’s finale-worthy, that’ll provide a good tease for next year.

[Mr. Morden]

One other finale prediction: I’m guessing that there’s a good chance that we’ll have a scene checking in with Sam?  I mean, at some point he’s got to reach Oldtown, right?  I’m wondering if they saved Sam’s arrival in Oldtown for the finale because he’s actually going to discover something pretty interesting about the White Walkers there right off the bat?  Something that’s finale-worthy, that’ll provide a good tease for next year.

I hope not, there's really no time.

At present, the White Walkers’ motivations seem pretty boring.  I guess they just want to spread winter as far as possible and assimilate any humans along the way?  And as far as being able to beat them…doesn’t seem that complicated if you have dragons.  You can just burn the zombies from the air.  That won’t work with the White Walkers themselves, but there are only so many of them, and they can be beaten with dragon glass and Valyrian steel.  Also, with Tyrion advising her to temper her worst instincts, Dany doesn’t seem like such a bad option to take the throne right now.  She can come into Westeros and defeat the White Walkers without much difficulty, as long as she has those dragons.

And so, if we’re just going to end the season with her setting sail for Westeros with no additional wrinkle being added, then I’m kind of annoyed.  It then seems too easy.  OTOH, if there’s a twist, such that the cure for the WWs is revealed to be worse than the disease, or that the WWs are really after dragons and Dany is walking into a trap, or their motivations are far different from what we’ve been led to believe in a way that makes the story more interesting…*that* would be an interesting hook for next season, IMHO.  We could get that from Sam in Oldtown, or from Bran’s visions, or somewhere else.  But I hope we get something like that.

[Mr. Morden]

Biggest unanswered question: Does Meera have the upper body strength to carry Bran over the Wall?

[Mr. Morden]

Who else is hoping that in Season 7, Sam will find a book in the library called "A Dream of Spring" by George R.R. Martin, which will show him how the story ends, and thus, how they can beat the White Walkers?  It'll be like a combination of The Neverending Story and this scene from Spaceballs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5drjr9PmTMA

[Mr. Morden]

Biggest unanswered question: Does Meera have the upper body strength to carry Bran over the Wall?

Was thinking the same - bit of a dck move by Benjen to leave them without a horse or sleigh or anything

He could have at least dropped them off right in front of the gate at Castle Black or something.  But no, from the establishing shot, it looked like the Wall was still quite a ways off in the distance.  That's a loooong way for Meera to carry Bran, even if she's in good shape (despite having eaten nothing more than rabbits and moss any time recently).

Cersei is officially bae.

Her getting total vengeance was on of the most satisfying things I've seen from a TV show in a long, long time.

But I do wonder how Littlefinger will react to the new situation. Jon Snow is King in the North and Sansa won't marry him. His plan is unraveling and he has to do something. Maybe allying with Cersei and crushing Jon Snow/Sansa is on the table?

I don't think so on allying with Cersei.  She's about to get wiped out anyway.  My guess is that LF is going to try to use some kind of deception to drive a wedge between Jon and Sansa, but it's unclear how he'll manage to do that.  I'm also wondering if LF somehow knows or suspects Jon's parentage, and will try to play that card somehow.  When he talked to Sansa about Rhaegar and Lyanna in Season 5, it sounded like he knew more than he was letting on.

There's also the question of whether Bran returning to Winterfell will complicate Littlefinger's plan.  Under normal circumstances, he'd be ahead of Sansa in line of succession by virtue of being male.

And I still wonder if the Hound arriving in Winterfell is going to be what does LF in, given that he was in the throne room when LF betrayed Ned in Season 1, and thus may be in a position to tell the Starks about the extent of LF's past treachery.

Cersei seems utterly and royally fcked now though. Like what's even her end game here? It looks like she is facing a Dorne-Tyrell-dragons-Unsullied-Dothraki-Greyjoy alliance which as far as I can tell would be a match for the rest of Westeros combined. She won't get help from the Starks (obviously, duh). She must be controversial as hell even in the Westerlands having murdered her uncle and cousin and forced her son to suicide.

It's not totally clear to me whether it's public knowledge that it was Cersei who's responsible for the Sept burning.  I suppose she could blame it on a gas leak. 

But regardless, the deck seems to be stacked in Dany's favor to a ridiculous extent.  Even if Dany's armada is stopping off in Dorne first to pick up some Martell and Tyrell troops, how long can they possibly stretch out her march to King's Landing?  Especially given that almost every other character in the show not already with her is in either King's Landing or Winterfell, or will be within another episode or two (meaning that the show's focus won't be splintered among 8 different settings each episode next season, so each storyline should be able to progress faster)?

So yeah, how long can they stretch out Cersei's downfall?  Will she make it past episode 4 of next year?

[Mr. Morden]

But regardless, the deck seems to be stacked in Dany's favor to a ridiculous extent.  Even if Dany's armada is stopping off in Dorne first to pick up some Martell and Tyrell troops, how long can they possibly stretch out her march to King's Landing?  Especially given that almost every other character in the show not already with her is in either King's Landing or Winterfell, or will be within another episode or two (meaning that the show's focus won't be splintered among 8 different settings each episode next season, so each storyline should be able to progress faster)?

So yeah, how long can they stretch out Cersei's downfall?  Will she make it past episode 4 of next year?

And to add to the above: This is why the finale actually felt kind of weird.  I liked the execution of it quite a bit of it, sure.  But if the series as a whole just finished Act 2 in a 3 act play, then it's a strange way to end Act 2, because things seem to be going *really* well for the "good guys".

First, even while Dany can get carried away sometimes, the show has reinforced the idea that Tyrion at least will temper her worst instincts.  So the show definitely wants the audience to root for her.  And her path ahead seems to be pretty easy.  Even against the White Walkers, the side of humanity will now be able to use dragons to burn the zombies from the air (and can use dragon glass and Valerian steel for the WWs).  The WWs now seem *less* threatening than they did a few seasons ago, which is a weird place for the story to be at the end of Act 2.  That's why I was hoping that we'd get some important info about them this season which would ramp up the threat level, but it didn't happen.

The other thing that would have been an interesting complication for Team Dany would have been if the show led us to believe that Lyanna and Rhaegar were married, which would theoretically make Jon the Targaryen heir over Dany, if that news ever got out.  They might still do that, but it remains hypothetical, so the R+L=J as given wasn't enough create any dissonance for me on the final shot of Dany's fleet, which I might have gotten if they straight up told us that Jon was the legitimate heir.

[Mr. Morden]

I don't know if the Wall will even still exist when the series is over, but here's a crazy idea for the eventual ending of Jon Snow's character arc: Jon has to go beyond the Wall for some reason, but then once he's there, he can't go back anymore, because the same magic that stopped Benjen will stop Jon (since he's also "dead").  So he's (sort of) alive, but forever trapped beyond the Wall (though maybe the weather will have improved once the White Walkers are defeated).

For one thing Euron will probably steal the dragons with his magic horn.

I don't think any magic horn has been referenced on the TV show.

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It just seems like an odd place in the narrative for everything to be going quite *this* well.  Again, if they were doing more to make the White Walker threat more menacing, I'd probably feel differently, but it doesn't feel like the WW storyline has any more momentum now than it did four years ago.

Now, there is *one* thing I can think of that the writers could do next year that would seriously screw up Team Dany (and Team Humanity, when it fights the White Walkers): Have Dany herself die.  Her team falls apart, and the dragons go rogue.  That should be the closing scene of Season 7. 

[Mr. Morden]

I'm trying to think of whether there's any chance of Bran not reuniting with Jon and Sansa in Winterfell next season.  With Arya, it's easy to imagine, since I think she's most likely going to go south to finish her list.  But with Bran, it seems pretty likely that he'll be back in Winterfell.  What I would imagine happening is that Bran and Meera go to Castle Black, and then Edd fills them in on current events, and sends word to Jon in Winterfell that Bran's alive.

The only alternative I can think of would be if they don't go to Castle Black at all.  If Meera can find them a horse (I can't see her carrying Bran around everywhere...they need a horse), maybe she takes Bran home with her, and we get to see Howland Reed.

With Arya, I'd bet on her going south rather than north.  Though she might run into other characters in the Riverlands first.  Possibly the Hound, possibly Melisandre, possibly Nymeria...but the character I'm really hoping she runs into again is Hot Pie.

[Mr. Morden]

How can Bran hang out with Edd when his arm mark brought the whole wall down?

What do you mean?  His arm mark hasn't brought the wall down.

[Mr. Morden]

How can Bran hang out with Edd when his arm mark brought the whole wall down?

What do you mean?  His arm mark hasn't brought the wall down.

That was tongue in cheek - I predict that Bran will accidentally invalidate the magic protections of the wall by passing through it while still having the Night King's mark on his arm.  I don't see how it otherwise comes down in the show, with no horn or anything. 

I think it's foreshadowed to go down, and that the numerology is foreshadowing that Edd will be the last Lord Commander.

That just seems like an utterly stupid thing for the writers to do.  Would the implication then be that if Bran had never gone north of the Wall to meet up with the 3-Eyed Raven in the first place, then the Wall never would have come down, and the White Walkers would have been forever trapped north of the Wall?  I hope it doesn't work out like that, because it undermines the threat of the White Walkers, if their only hope of being any threat to Westeros relies on their adversary being negligent.

I would also note that while Benjen said that the Wall wards off the dead, the White Walkers themselves aren't dead.  Just the zombies that they control.  The White Walkers could make it past the Wall on their own without knocking it down, and then start raising up a new army on the other side.

[Mr. Morden]

How can Bran hang out with Edd when his arm mark brought the whole wall down?

What do you mean?  His arm mark hasn't brought the wall down.

That was tongue in cheek - I predict that Bran will accidentally invalidate the magic protections of the wall by passing through it while still having the Night King's mark on his arm.  I don't see how it otherwise comes down in the show, with no horn or anything. 

I think it's foreshadowed to go down, and that the numerology is foreshadowing that Edd will be the last Lord Commander.

That just seems like an utterly stupid thing for the writers to do.  Would the implication then be that if Bran had never gone north of the Wall to meet up with the 3-Eyed Raven in the first place, then the Wall never would have come down, and the White Walkers would have been forever trapped north of the Wall?  I hope it doesn't work out like that, because it undermines the threat of the White Walkers, if their only hope of being any threat to Westeros relies on their adversary being negligent.

I would also note that while Benjen said that the Wall wards off the dead, the White Walkers themselves aren't dead.  Just the zombies that they control.  The White Walkers could make it past the Wall on their own without knocking it down, and then start raising up a new army on the other side.

Is it your interpretation that the walkers could make it through the children's protective field if only they knew where the hideout was?  Or was it that bran had to be marked before they could go into the 3-eyed raven's hideout?

With the 3ER's cave, I guess the show means for us to think that both the WWs and the wights are warded off from the cave by the Children's magic, though I suppose there's a little room for ambiguity.

For the Wall though, I'm not sure if the same rules apply to both WWs and wights or not.  Like I said, I'm just hoping that the WWs have some kind of concrete plan for how to get across the Wall that doesn't rely on Bran.  If they're going to just say "Woops, you got screwed over by that mark on your arm again", I'm going to be mightily disappointed.

[Mr. Morden]

I'm trying to think of whether there's any chance of Bran not reuniting with Jon and Sansa in Winterfell next season.  With Arya, it's easy to imagine, since I think she's most likely going to go south to finish her list.  But with Bran, it seems pretty likely that he'll be back in Winterfell.  What I would imagine happening is that Bran and Meera go to Castle Black, and then Edd fills them in on current events, and sends word to Jon in Winterfell that Bran's alive.

The only alternative I can think of would be if they don't go to Castle Black at all.  If Meera can find them a horse (I can't see her carrying Bran around everywhere...they need a horse), maybe she takes Bran home with her, and we get to see Howland Reed.

With Arya, I'd bet on her going south rather than north.  Though she might run into other characters in the Riverlands first.  Possibly the Hound, possibly Melisandre, possibly Nymeria...but the character I'm really hoping she runs into again is Hot Pie.

I doubt Arya goes south.  In fact, I'd almost bet money on her going north next season.  Walder Frey just had the bad luck of being on the way.

The problem I see is...how do Cersei and the Mountain survive next season?  Dany's forces are way more powerful at this point, so I'm guessing there will be a final reckoning in King's Landing, presumably ending with the death (or, less likely, capture) of Cersei and the Mountain.  But those are the last people left on Arya's list.  Wouldn't it be anti-climactic if her list gets finished off when she's thousands of miles away?

[Mr. Morden]

I'm trying to think of whether there's any chance of Bran not reuniting with Jon and Sansa in Winterfell next season.  With Arya, it's easy to imagine, since I think she's most likely going to go south to finish her list.  But with Bran, it seems pretty likely that he'll be back in Winterfell.  What I would imagine happening is that Bran and Meera go to Castle Black, and then Edd fills them in on current events, and sends word to Jon in Winterfell that Bran's alive.

The only alternative I can think of would be if they don't go to Castle Black at all.  If Meera can find them a horse (I can't see her carrying Bran around everywhere...they need a horse), maybe she takes Bran home with her, and we get to see Howland Reed.

With Arya, I'd bet on her going south rather than north.  Though she might run into other characters in the Riverlands first.  Possibly the Hound, possibly Melisandre, possibly Nymeria...but the character I'm really hoping she runs into again is Hot Pie.

I doubt Arya goes south.  In fact, I'd almost bet money on her going north next season.  Walder Frey just had the bad luck of being on the way.

The problem I see is...how do Cersei and the Mountain survive next season?  Dany's forces are way more powerful at this point, so I'm guessing there will be a final reckoning in King's Landing, presumably ending with the death (or, less likely, capture) of Cersei and the Mountain.  But those are the last people left on Arya's list.  Wouldn't it be anti-climactic if her list gets finished off when she's thousands of miles away?

Her arc isn't primarily about the list though.  The Mountain is technically dead and Jaime will kill Cersei and Qyburn.

I see her arc as being about learning to move beyond revenge.  But she’s not there yet.  If she was, then she wouldn’t have killed Walder Frey and his sons.  The  most logical path forward is for the story to put her in a place where she’s in a position to finish off her list, but she chooses not to, because she decides that there’s some greater good that needs to be served.

I think she needs to physically move to where Cersei is in order for that to happen.  If Arya’s in Winterfell and just hears about how the final people on her list have died via raven-gram, that would be unsatisfying.  So I think she either needs to go to King’s Landing, or she has to cross paths with Cersei some other way.  I guess if Cersei escapes King’s Landing before Dany takes over, and flees to Casterly Rock or something, then there’s still time for her to cross paths with Arya as late as Season 8.  But if KL is Cersei’s last stand, then I think Arya either needs to get there next season or else Cersei will be dead before they have a chance to meet.

[Mr. Morden]

Now that R+L=J is official, I’m wondering anew whether the writers gave Sean Bean any clues as to Jon Snow’s origin story when they were filming Season 1.  In this clip for example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEB5t1qRdmY

Between Sean Bean’s acting around 1:10 when Robert brings up Jon’s mother, and his acting around 2:25, when Robert brings up what “Rhaegar did to your sister”, it seems clear that some kind of instruction (from either writers or director) was given to Sean Bean to play it a certain way that isn’t obvious from the dialog alone.  But how much they actually told him…I don’t know.