Winter is Coming (GoT is back)

[Citizen (The) Doctor]

This mountain of wonderful came on last night.

I thought Littlefinger's plan would come to fruition before any wedding so I was surprised by the end.  Now not sure what LF is up to. And is Sansa still his ally?

Just got done blitz watching the whole thing over the last two weeks.

It kinda seems like his entire plan relies on House Bolton defeating Stannis in the battle for the North. If Stannis wins then he's back to square one with the Veil being on the front lines of the Baratheon advance. He would yet again become entirely beholden to the Lannisters to defeat Stannis.

I'm assuming he wants Stannis to win and declare Sansa the warden of the North, restoring the Starks to power. That way, Littlefinger has two regions essentially under his control.

I mean either way Littlefinger gets to control the North. Either the Boltons or Stannis barely make it out alive and Littlefinger comes in to claim the North for the Crown or Stannis wins, Sansa becomes Warden, Littlefinger remains in de-facto control. In the latter case, I expect to see Stannis taken down by Littlefinger sometime soon. He's going to attempt to claim the throne after Cersei is disgraced and Kevan is killed, I think, and it'll be Daenerys vs. Littlefinger in the final acts of the series, before the White Walkers come of course.

[Tender Branson]

After the last episode, Claire McCaskill is done with Game of Thrones:

http://www.vox.com/2015/5/19/8624535/mccaskill-game-of-thrones

She can now join the hipsters who are too cool to watch the show but don't do it anyway.

I'm not really shocked/surprised by that scene. I actually expected it (considering Ramsey's personality and previous behaviour).

(Of course, don't get me wrong: rape is to be condemned, but like I said: the scene did not come out of nowhere.)

[Eraserhead]

So are we getting Stannis vs. The Boltons this season or not? I need to see an epic battle soon!

[Citizen (The) Doctor]

So are we getting Stannis vs. The Boltons this season or not? I need to see an epic battle soon!

But that would mean Mel burns Shireen

[Cory]

So are we getting Stannis vs. The Boltons this season or not? I need to see an epic battle soon!

I would say almost certainly. I think they might even have him torch his daughter to make the audience lose sympathy for him. I hope not though, he's my second favorite character right now (first is Peter Baelish).

[Eraserhead]

Stannis harming his daughter in any way would make me rage. I guess it'd be for me what the Ramsay/Sansa rape was for so many others.

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

The show has never exactly been friendly turf for Stannis fans anyway. Not that he's a wonderful person in the books, but the show often seems really reluctant to see what good there is in him.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Stannis harming his daughter in any way would make me rage. I guess it'd be for me what the Ramsay/Sansa rape was for so many others.

This

[7,052,770]

I haven't read the books or any spoilers or anything, but there's like, literally, no chance that a TV show will feature a major character murdering his little girl by burning her alive. Even on Game of Thrones. I wouldn't worry about that at all.

Also, didn't Melisandre just draw blood from Robert's bastard without killing him? And then Stannis used said blood to hex Joffrey, Robb, and Balon Greyjoy (have we even heard from him since season 2?)? Why would he need to kill Shireen for this?

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

EDITED IN THE HOPES OF COMPLYING WITH JOE REPUBLIC'S EXACTING STANDARDS

Balon Greyjoy is PROBABLY SUPPOSED TO BE dead, WHICH COULD BE BECAUSE he had a slip-and-fall on Pyke that in the books was almost certainly engineered by a Faceless Man hired by his awful brother Euron.

[Citizen (The) Doctor]

Also, while I applaud the High Sparrow, I'm absolutely terrified by him. I can't tell if a religious police state is really any better than its predecessor.

[RI]

I haven't read the books or any spoilers or anything, but there's like, literally, no chance that a TV show will feature a major character murdering his little girl by burning her alive. Even on Game of Thrones. I wouldn't worry about that at all.

There's a fair chance Selyse burns Shireen on her own.

[badgate]

I haven't read the books or any spoilers or anything, but there's like, literally, no chance that a TV show will feature a major character murdering his little girl by burning her alive. Even on Game of Thrones. I wouldn't worry about that at all.

There's a fair chance Selyse burns Shireen on her own.

I will pull my hair out

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

I haven't read the books or any spoilers or anything, but there's like, literally, no chance that a TV show will feature a major character murdering his little girl by burning her alive. Even on Game of Thrones. I wouldn't worry about that at all.

There's a fair chance Selyse burns Shireen on her own.

I will pull my hair out

Yeah. I think the book version of Selyse has a fair case for a defamation suit against Benioff and Weiss as it is without this compounding matters.

[Mr. Morden]

I haven't read the books or any spoilers or anything, but there's like, literally, no chance that a TV show will feature a major character murdering his little girl by burning her alive. Even on Game of Thrones. I wouldn't worry about that at all.

There's a fair chance Selyse burns Shireen on her own.

I don't see it happening.  She might *try*, but I'm guessing that at least Davos would stop her or something.

There is a fan theory I read somewhere that the Boltons will pull a sneak attack on Stannis's forces, and in the ensuing chaos, end up taking Shireen hostage.  They seem to be foreshadowing *something* terrible for her, but I don't think they'll go as far as to kill her.

[Joe Republic]

Balon Greyjoy is dead, he had a slip-and-fall on Pyke that in the books was almost certainly engineered by a Faceless Man hired by his awful brother Euron.

If it didn't happen (on or off-screen) in the show, it didn't happen at all.  Some of us don't care what happened in the books.

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

Balon Greyjoy is dead, he had a slip-and-fall on Pyke that in the books was almost certainly engineered by a Faceless Man hired by his awful brother Euron.

If it didn't happen (on or off-screen) in the show, it didn't happen at all.  Some of us don't care what happened in the books.

There's no need to be so truculent about it.

[Joe Republic]

I thought it was clear that this is a thread dedicated to discussing the TV show.  I get tired of sifting through discussions about stuff that only happened in the books, when everybody knows that they've diverged, and many/most of us haven't read them anyway.  Take it elsewhere.

[Gustaf]

The editing out of the Greyjoys is really weird. They do exist in the show, obviously, so I don't see the rationale in pretending as if they no longer do.

Everything in the books imply that Stannis wins the battle. That made me pretty sure he was going to lose. The show building up towards a Bolton victory gives me hope though.

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

I thought it was clear that this is a thread dedicated to discussing the TV show.  I get tired of sifting through discussions about stuff that only happened in the books, when everybody knows that they've diverged, and many/most of us haven't read them anyway.  Take it elsewhere.

I'm not aware of a separate thread for the books, at least none that's active. It'd be nice to see one started, but since (as you point out) such a thread might not attract enough traffic compared to this one to be viable, and since it would be silly to ban discussion of the books out of hand, just using this thread for both really shouldn't be such a hardship.

And really, if the books provide a clear answer to a question that somebody asked that the show hasn't evinced any interest in addressing one way or another, why not bring up the answer from the books? I mean, it's as good as any other explanation for Balon's absence, isn't it?

[Gustaf]

I thought it was clear that this is a thread dedicated to discussing the TV show.  I get tired of sifting through discussions about stuff that only happened in the books, when everybody knows that they've diverged, and many/most of us haven't read them anyway.  Take it elsewhere.

I'm not aware of a separate thread for the books, at least none that's active. It'd be nice to see one started, but since (as you point out) such a thread might not attract enough traffic compared to this one to be viable, and since it would be silly to ban discussion of the books out of hand, just using this thread for both really shouldn't be such a hardship.

And really, if the books provide a clear answer to a question that somebody asked that the show hasn't evinced any interest in addressing one way or another, why not bring up the answer from the books? I mean, it's as good as any other explanation for Balon's absence, isn't it?

Did Balon not die in the show as well? I really thought that he did. I'm thinking that the Greyjoys will return for next season (it seems unfeasible to just ignore them).

And I also don't get the book hate. Chillax, Joe.

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

I thought it was clear that this is a thread dedicated to discussing the TV show.  I get tired of sifting through discussions about stuff that only happened in the books, when everybody knows that they've diverged, and many/most of us haven't read them anyway.  Take it elsewhere.

I'm not aware of a separate thread for the books, at least none that's active. It'd be nice to see one started, but since (as you point out) such a thread might not attract enough traffic compared to this one to be viable, and since it would be silly to ban discussion of the books out of hand, just using this thread for both really shouldn't be such a hardship.

And really, if the books provide a clear answer to a question that somebody asked that the show hasn't evinced any interest in addressing one way or another, why not bring up the answer from the books? I mean, it's as good as any other explanation for Balon's absence, isn't it?

Did Balon not die in the show as well? I really thought that he did. I'm thinking that the Greyjoys will return for next season (it seems unfeasible to just ignore them).

I'm kind of hoping the Greyjoys come back because I actually liked that storyline in AFFC, but considering they're doing the Meereenese knot with no Ironborn involvement, I kind of doubt it.

Either Balon's death wasn't mentioned in the show or it was mentioned so offhandedly that both Harry and I forgot that it was specified to have occurred. Admittedly, at first this is true of his death in the books as well.

[Joe Republic]

And I also don't get the book hate. Chillax, Joe.

Sure, just fill the whole thread with pseudo-spoilers for the rest of us.  Thanks.

[Gustaf]

And I also don't get the book hate. Chillax, Joe.

Sure, just fill the whole thread with pseudo-spoilers for the rest of us.  Thanks.

Oh, the spoiler thing is legitimate. Why didn't you say so in the first place?

Though to be honest I'm not sure there is much to spoil anymore. The show is either caught up or has seemingly cut away everything that's happened in the books until now. Us book readers are about as much in the dark as the rest of you.

In fact, if anything the show is spoiling the books at this point, not the other way around.

[Mr. Morden]

Balon isn't dead on the TV show.  See the Game of Thrones Wiki (which is entirely based on the TV show continuity):

http://gameofthrones.wikia.com/wiki/Balon_Greyjoy

There's nothing about him dying in there.