Ummm, yeah the dying of Robb sucks and all but, Basically Brann is like super saiyan now if he can harness his power. Dude will just get in the mind of one of the dragons and kill. Or into Tywinns mind and kill himself. Amirite?

That was unreal

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So little Ned stark died too. Not a good time for Neds

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Quality

My response to the killing of Rob and his mother is not like everyone else on this thread.

If it had to happen to someone we've been rooting for, I'm glad it was them. I've never like that entire storyline. It was boring and seemed to be going nowhere. I've felt all along that there were too many storylines to devote enough time to keep things interesting, and the author definitely chose the right one to get rid of. Now, more time can be devoted to more interesting stuff, and the show will be better for it.

To explain why I feel this way...of all the Stark kids, Rob seems to be the weakest link to me, both as a story and as a potential warrior (other than the little brother who Bran smartly just sent away). Had he survived this ambush, I could see him becoming interesting and tough...and I was hoping that's where this was going just before he finally died...but they obviously chose to just kill him off instead.

Instead of dying, all of siblings have all faced excruciating adversity, survived it, and are becoming very interesting and extremely tough characters because of it.

Bran was paralyzed by Jaime Lanister, but his condition has helped him identify and focus on his mind control abilities.

Arya watched her dad get executed. Everybody she's ever liked has died, been kidnapped, or abandoned her...and now she's stuck with her mortal enemy. But she's very interesting and it's obvious that all of this is leading to her becoming a ferocious warrior.

John Snow, as the ******* brother who was sent away, has had a pretty interesting story too. He was forced to murder his leader & mentor to infiltrate the wildlings, and he's shown great leadership skills throughout. He's done what he's had to do to survive, even if it means abandoning the woman he loves. He's interesting and a survivor.

Sansa has probably dealt with more than any them. Almost forced to marry the creep who murdered her dad, then betrothed to a gallant knight, but then forced to marry a Lanister at the last second. And on top of that, she basically considers him to be physically deformed. I've always found her boring until she told Tyrion she might never sleep with him. That showed some backbone for the first time. I think we'll finally see a tougher, more interesting Sansa in the future.

Rob and his storyline has never compared to these others. I'm glad they got rid of them. It's too bad about the mother, but her death will only add fuel to the fire within the others, so I guess it's probably good for the story.

Is the fact that Bran can control the animals highlighted so that he can control the dragons some day? That would be cool.

For the re ord, I have not read the books, just speculating....

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Rob and his storyline has never compared to these others

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So his dad being accused and killed of treason, his best friend who was like a brother betraying him and one of his primary bannerman mucking up things, weakening his chances at winning the war is all just a walk in the park?

Brutal.


Will this result in a loss of viewers or continue to build into the Season 4 premiere? I guess that could depend on the season finale next week, but the continued brutality towards the "good guys" could be a turnoff.

This series is more based in reality (outside of all the magical crap), the good don't always win, and those they we believe to be bad always have a side of them we don't see.

Just finished up via HBOgo...HOLY CRAP.

I have nothing else valuable to add at this point. Still reeling.

I was shocked like everyone too, but Cersei was right about "in the game of thrones, you either win or you die." Also time will prove over and over that sticking to your principles while in the pursuit of conquest will only seek to undermine you. I say this because everything started unraveling when Rob executed the Karstark lord, and like Ned because he was unable to do what was necessary to keep his army/ power it cost him his life.

The Starks aren't out of this, not by a long shot. With Bran with mind control and Aria with the full vendetta to kill everyone the Starks are just getting warmed up. Does anyone think that Aria tries to find the faceless man now that her family is dead?

Also I always had a feeling the Boltons were about to make a power play, because you hear how cunning and powerful they are but until this episode they never made a move.

D*mn I love this SHOW

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Also time will prove over and over that sticking to your principles while in the pursuit of conquest will only seek to undermine you. I say this because everything started unraveling when Rob executed the Karstark lord

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One could argue opposite. Had Robb stuck to his principles he would have married the Frey girl. Karstark told Robb the war was lost the moment he married Talisa.

Ok.....So after sleeping on it.


I'm kind of with the poster above who said that he's kind of glad the wedding scene last night happened. I too think that's been the most boring of the storylines and I've had trouble at times buying the fact that Robb was a king. He and Catelyn have been extremely boring at times...despite the fact that he's showed some moments of genious when it came to fighting the war, he's also made some really stupid moves (in hindsight) with regards to the Karstarks, and marrying the hottie (dang me her death was REALLY violent/nasty).

So Bolton has obviously been planning this for a while...I remember earlier this season when he delivered some messages from Winterfell that he left out some key bits of info (or seemed to to my sceptical mind). At that point, I remember wondering what he was up to and whether or not he had another move up his sleave. But I admit...until Catelyn noticed his chain mail last night I didn't see him joined in with the Freys. I thought Frey might do something weird based on the "previously on GoT...." but I thought it might be....I don't know....something less than killing the whole bunch.

So did they just kill all of the Starks in the army? Or did they try to kill all of the army (other houses included)? I saw them cut some throats in the courtyard, but it didn't look like all out war outside the gates. Any idea how/if The Blackfish escaped? He went out to take a piss...so he obviously wasn't in the room when everything went down...guessing that was an obvious hint that he didn't get killed like the others.

And I'm wondering if Bran just sent Rickon to his death? If the Umbers are now with the Boltons, did Bran just send his little brother into the enemies hands?


The Jon thing confused me and bugged me a bit. He's sitting there fighting off some wildlings, and all of a sudden two Dire Wolves start attacking and killing all of his enemies...and he's not even curious as to why/how? I realize he probably doesn't recognize the wolves now that they're grown...and maybe he just thought they were attacking guys near him and he was lucky to not have been eaten yet, but I wanted he and Bran to finally meet up.


So...Dany and her dragons have 3-4 of the baddest MFers in the world fighting for her. Did I miss something or was it just the 3 of them killing TONS of bad guys fighting their way through the whole city? I got the impression when they got back to her tent that the entire city had been taken over....not just the gate opened like they referred to when they were planning it. I honestly expected one of the three of them to die...but liked the fact that they all made it.



And I really like Arya and The Hound together. Their dialogue has been fun since they met back up and you can see she's conflicted. But now that ransom is out of the picture, it'll be interesting to see what his next move is with her.

pretty sure they said the next wave of slave soldiers yielded after seeing the first group had been slaughtered.

Also, pretty sure one of the wolves was Jon's...it seems he was off riding for his life

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Also, pretty sure one of the wolves was Jon's...it seems he was off riding for his life

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No...there were two wolves...Bran's and Rickon's. Osha asked right before we saw them...."where are the wolves". Jon's wolf is north of the wall, last seen with fat boy and the wildling baby mama.

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So what does this do to the theory that Rob's wife was a spy?

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I think that theory is D.O.A]

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Well, someone knew she was preggers... Otherwise why would they stab her in the stomach?

I would imagine in the middle of fighting for your life, you don't stop to pet the wolves when you are escaping and their are still wildlings alive trying to kill your ass.

The part that was more confusing is the wolves suddenly disappear with enemies still alive

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So what does this do to the theory that Rob's wife was a spy?

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I think that theory is D.O.A]

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Well, someone knew she was preggers... Otherwise why would they stab her in the stomach?

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I think that was a message sent specifically to readers

WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!!!!

My wife and I were totally dumbfounded after the end of the episode last night (silent credits after that was a Genius move).

She looked over at me and said "I am so tense and drained at the same time after seeing that...", and I had to agree.

I hated seeing all of that and the way they took our Robb's wife and baby, just vicious. I am hoping that Blackfish escaped (and possibly rescued Edmure maybe) to be able to come back and exact some vengeance on Frey. What a B******!!!

Now, I am hoping that Stannis and the red witch have their way with King's Landing, and then the Mother of Dragons swoops in and lays waste to all of them.

I also hope that Arya finds the faceless man, or her dance instructor (if he survived, as has been wondered since we never actually saw him die in Season 1), and becomes a bada** ninja and guts every Lannister (except Tyrion), Bolton, and Frey.

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This series is more based in reality (outside of all the magical crap), the good don't always win, and those they we believe to be bad always have a side of them we don't see.

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While I understand your point (and the author's), something like this tests the patience of the readers/watchers/fans. I understand the real world is not all rainbows and unicorns, and good does not always triumph over evil. But, you can only take brutally laying waste to the goods guys so many times without some sort of redemption for them. Most people don't want to be reminded of the bleakness of life and want to escape and be shown that the good guys are capable of winning, or at least surviving.

"One day I'm going to put a sword through your eye and out the back of your head"

-Arya Stark

Not a direct quote but pretty badass scene. Threatening the Hound and standing up to him. Arya has the potential to be really badass. I bet somehow she links up with some of the shape shifters and they give her some proper training.

It will be interesting to see how the viewership reacts. I think in the end only a few viewers will shut it off and honestly I feel sorry for them. Once you take a step back you realize what an incredible story this is because with the RW all of your preconceived notions of how a story is supposed to go and the "good guys winning" are gone, or at least much different than you ever thought. The story is so much deeper than that. The good guys aren't perfect and the bad guys aren't all so terrible (see Jaime).

I know for me, like many readers, literally threw the book across the room after the Red Wedding chapter. I was furious and physically upset for at least half an hour. Eventually though I realized this isn't the end of the story, not by a long shot. There is more. I finally picked the book back up and realized just how great this story is and this was unlike anything else I had ever read.

I watched it last night with my wife and 2 other Non Readers and to see them just as upset and shocked as I was made me feel for them but also glad for them. They will also get to realize the same thing I did about the awesomeness of this story. I'm just glad the show managed to keep it such a shock just as it was in the books. I know my wife was getting kind of mushy during the wedding as Robb was talking to Talisa about how Cat finally was warming to her and excited about their baby on the way. Even as a reader and knowing what was coming it was very hard to watch. So much hope lost and so much of the people you hate winning. You just have to remember though there is a lot of story left to tell.

The real question is whom do people hate more now? Joff or Walder Frey?

Still Joffrey.

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I know for me, like many readers, literally threw the book across the room after the Red Wedding chapter.

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+1

I also loved how they refreshed how much Walder is a dirty old creep. The last time we saw him was early S2. When he was grabbing on his new wife's teen ass. So the interaction with Robb's wife and WF just refreshed our memories that this guy is a dirty dirty perv. Which then makes us hate him even more when he does what he does.

the Hound is by far the best character in this story.

The mind control stuff is pretty gay. Actually all of the fantasy stuff out side of the dragons is pretty gay.

I wasn't that shocked by the wedding scene. Maybe it's because of that dick head proc or maybe because I am a jaded cynical ass hole but i found it to be pretty bland.

But still one of the best things on tv and I am glad it is around.

Lose viewership?

"Wow that was an incredible piece of television, probably one of the most talked about non-finale episodes of any show in years... I think I'll stop watching the show."

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The real question is whom do people hate more now? Joff or Walder Frey?

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I heart Joffrey. Bro is a total badass.

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the Hound is by far the best character in this story

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He and Jaime have definitely been the most intriguing as far as the dynamic of their character not being what was originally perceived (Tyrion too for that matter).


Another thought this morning.....so now that Brienne doesn't have anyone she's sworn to (Cat's dead), I wonder which way she turns and where she lands?

Obviously there's a lot left to the imagination....but I wonder when/how Tywin Lannister turned Roose Bolton? Or if Bolton was the one to approach Tywin and made his own play to be the boss in the North when this all shakes out?


Hey redline.....your comment about Robbs wife getting stabbed in the belly being a message to book readers....can you elaborate without spoiling or revealing anything important?

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The mind control stuff is pretty gay. Actually all of the fantasy stuff out side of the dragons is pretty gay

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I don't know why, but I find this completely hilarious.

lol at lose viewership because the starks are dead. Dude was a moron and ****ed up nearly everything he had a chance to touch. Who honestly thought he had a shot?

After a second viewing, I want to make sure I understand something. The Boltons, the Freys, and the Lannisters all conspired to commit the ambush at the wedding, right?

Also, I noticed something that doesn't make sense to me. Maybe it was just bad acting, bad directing, or bad drama...but the scene where Jorah (or whatever his name is) and Grey Worm returned from their battle without the new warrior guy seemed poorly done. When Dany asked where he was, the look on Jorah's face clearly showed sadness, as if to communicate the guy didn't survive. But he didn't die, and they won and took control of the army and city. Seemed like a cheap trick to misdirect the audience, which seems beneath GoT. Or maybe I just read too much into it.

That Fabio-looking d-bag still seems a little shady to me anyway. He practically accused Jorah of being untrustworthy, and I fully expected Jorah to say that guy had led them into a trap but they fought their way out of it. Am I the only one who doesn't trust that guy?

Stive, many readers were holding out hope that Robb's wife in the book secretly gave birth to his heir.

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"Wow that was an incredible piece of television, probably one of the most talked about non-finale episodes of any show in years... I think I'll stop watching the show."

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This X Infinity


If people stop watching because of that last night, they're dumb. Last nights results just throw that much more intrigue into the mix about who will make it....who has what it takes....etc. It just narrowed the playing field a bit as far as rooting interest is concerned. If they didn't get the hint in S1 E9 that some good guys/great characters can/will die in this show, then I feel sorry for them.

taint: they've made it pretty clear that Jorah is in love with Dany.