As others have said regarding Arya's storyline- all the writers needed to do was have Jaqen give Arya her orders to kill Lady Crane- then after she leaves the waif walks in and Jaqen says "make sure to finish the job if she doesn't, and take Arya out as well in that case". Fast forward to Arya knocking the cup out of Lady Crane's hand and suddenly the waif appears, kills LC and starts chasing Arya through Bravos- leading back to the cubby hole and Needle...maybe then the writers could have saved more time for the Tower of Joy scenes and less time on Arya's terrible plotline and Tyrion and the slaves pounding Fossoway Red and telling bad jokes

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Regarding the wildfire, was Cersei not with Tyrion when the alchemists showed Tryion the stock they had made before the Battle of Blackwater? I vaguely remember that scene of the alchemist showing Tryion the huge stock and Cersei being with him. Thus there is nothing to confirm since she has personnel knowledge. I'm on the side that believes the "rumors" are about the High Sparrow.

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I didn't see this addressed, but no. Cersei was not with Tyrion when he was shown the alchemists' stash of wildfire^2

He was actively recruiting against Cersei to try to find out what she was doing (confrontation with Lancel becoming his spy after admitting to sharing the bed with Cersei).

His quote in the show even says something to the effect of "you're not making wildfire for Cersei anymore. You're making it for me."

BOOM! Thank you!

tommen is dying this season... the only question is how.

I am betting it is at his mother's hand or mother's bidding.


She then locks herself in the red tower the mountain kills a bunch of people trying to stop her.

Wildfire may or may not be involved... and then Jamie comes back, fights the mountain is gravely wounded but ends up killing him, then because Cersi caused Tommen's death, kills her and he dies as well.

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It could be that it was assumed that all the Wildfire was used in the Blackwater battle. However, maybe Qyburn discovered other hidden caches?

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If I recall correctly, Cersei uses some of the left over wildfire to burn down the Red Keep as sort of a fireworks show for Tommen's wedding after Tywin had already died.

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3. Dany just walks in. No counterattack against the Navy attacking her city, no dragon breathing fire, nothing. But it was oh so important for us to see her stupid speech on the dragon 2 episodes ago. Way to waste your CGI budget, HBO.

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I'm going to assume (and hope) that they're saving the dragons going to town on the ships for Episode 10. I think they still have to go let the other two dragons out, but I'd love to know where the hell Drogon is going.

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The show is really selling the "saved by the Vale" plot. They even have an actual letter written by Sansa for the internet to decipher. They need a twist. My simple theory is that LF is being LF....I think the Stark army is saved by the late-arriving Northern Bannermen who Sansa offhandedly mentioned sending ravens to back in E5 or E6. Heck, good old backstabbing Howland Reed might show up. He could share Jon's origin story with the group. Little Bran sees it through the tree and verifies by time traveling.

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I agree with you. We've all been set up to believe the Knights of the Vale will save the day, but that seems like a pretty obvious plot line. The problem is that once the show surpassed the books, the obvious plot lines seem to be what they are following.

Would love to see the Manderlys and the Umbers turn on the Boltons to be the deciding factor in the battle, rather than LF and the KotV. The North remembers.

Also agree that Howland Reed might show up with either (a) Robb's letter legitimizing Jon, or (b) evidence of R+L=J.

So who do we think this is?


My money is on Rickon.

I am not convinced the "rumor" is about wildfire. I think it is related to information on the high sparrow. Maybe he has a history of gay affairs? Who knows.

I was thinking the same thing. Some background info on him. Like the fact that he's Howland Reed ****ing confirmed.

It almost has to be Rickon right?

Pretty much. Looks like a relatively small and slender torso.

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It almost has to be Rickon right?

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They wouldn't give that away in a promo shot.

They gave away Arya's parkour jump.

Bolton kill wildling army, Littlefinger kills Bolton. Sansa rules the north, but with an unwanted "ally" at her side.

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Sorry for the multiple posts but another quick thing I'll bring up that doesn't sit right regarding Arya --

Remember when she was blind and a begger and she would fight the Waif in the streets? They did the one pan out scene where it was Arya alone and you couldn't see the Waif. Its like she wasn't there. What was up with that? It seems like the Waif had to be a real person because Lady Crain obviously saw her and fell victim to her, but that little fight scene makes no sense now after we have the conclusion of all this. Inconsistencies in the writing? Maybe they had a change of heart on how this would ultimately play out?

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How is it no one addressed this already?

In that scene, the waif was playing with her. Striking from one side, then moving to the other side while Arya flailed around aimlessly. In the part where you see Arya swinging wildly with the waif gone...it's because the waif was gone. She hits Arya a few times, and then just leaves. The whole purpose was to show Arya that she can screw with her whenever she likes b/c Arya has no idea how to fight while blind. Just b/c we don't see a character physically walk/run off it doesn't mean it was fake/imaginary/etc.

Could it sweet sweet little Robyn Arryn?

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So, I think Arya didn't expect the waif to come for her in the previous episode. She seemed surprised/upset with Jaqen when she questioned him tonight. Then after the stab, she gets away and thinks she can hide. After the waif showed up at the actress's place she realized she can't hide and, I think, decided then to lead the waif to her hideout.

She was going on the fly, but when she decided to run she knew right where she wanted to run, and made sure the waif could follow her (smearing blood every where).

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Posting this again, b/c I think it's pretty obvious and explains the so-called lazy writing. It makes a heck of a lot more sense now at the end of the episode than it did in the previous one.

LF saves the day, expecting Sansa's eternal affection, only to find her new advisor waiting for him in the Winterfell great hall.

I don't think anyone was fooled by that.

Suppose it could be, but I don't see how they'd have access to him if the Vale comes in with numbers and well-prepared.

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So, I think Arya didn't expect the waif to come for her in the previous episode. She seemed surprised/upset with Jaqen when she questioned him tonight. Then after the stab, she gets away and thinks she can hide. After the waif showed up at the actress's place she realized she can't hide and, I think, decided then to lead the waif to her hideout.

She was going on the fly, but when she decided to run she knew right where she wanted to run, and made sure the waif could follow her (smearing blood every where).

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Posting this again, b/c I think it's pretty obvious and explains the so-called lazy writing. It makes a heck of a lot more sense now at the end of the episode than it did in the previous one.

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I agree that has to be the explanation, but it seems a bit strange that Arya would have thought they were just going to let her go

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So, I think Arya didn't expect the waif to come for her in the previous episode. She seemed surprised/upset with Jaqen when she questioned him tonight. Then after the stab, she gets away and thinks she can hide. After the waif showed up at the actress's place she realized she can't hide and, I think, decided then to lead the waif to her hideout.

She was going on the fly, but when she decided to run she knew right where she wanted to run, and made sure the waif could follow her (smearing blood every where).

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Posting this again, b/c I think it's pretty obvious and explains the so-called lazy writing. It makes a heck of a lot more sense now at the end of the episode than it did in the previous one.

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I agree that has to be the explanation, but it seems a bit strange that Arya would have thought they were just going to let her go

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Why did they even need to draw it out over 2 episodes? Just to kill off the gypsy actress?

Could have easily be done in one episode. Arya draws the waif out, whether on purpose or no, gets stabbed, runs to her hideout, kills the waif in the dark.

The steam spa was a weird 15-20 second sequence. One that I feel fortunate for not having witness old man ***** during.

Let's imagine that Qyburn has info about the High Sparrow. Who is going to care? How is that going to help Cersei? Qyburn comes up and is all "That's Howland Reed!!" Everyone would be like, "Who? Also, so?"

I think the wildfire speculation is more plausible. I think a realistic possibility is that Jaime arrives in King's Landing and finds out Cersei is about to torch the whole city and ends up killing her just like the Mad King. Despite his threats to Edmure about not caring about anyone and slaughtering every Tully, he can't get away from not letting innocents die.

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Let's imagine that Qyburn has info about the High Sparrow. Who is going to care? How is that going to help Cersei? Qyburn comes up and is all "That's Howland Reed!!" Everyone would be like, "Who? Also, so?"

I think the wildfire speculation is more plausible. I think a realistic possibility is that Jaime arrives in King's Landing and finds out Cersei is about to torch the whole city and ends up killing her just like the Mad King. Despite his threats to Edmure about not caring about anyone and slaughtering every Tully, he can't get away from not letting innocents die.

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I don't think its the Howland Reed angle. I think its something that Cercei might be able to use as blackmail with the HS? Who knows, we are probably all wrong...

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So who do we think this is?


My money is on Rickon.

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I see 6 burning Xs in the E9 promo (at the .05 mark). The only one that appears to have a person mounted on it is at the .18 mark, right in front of the Bolton lines. This picture and the one in the scene don't appear to be in the same location. So, this burning flayed person is a mystery. Don't know how much of a threat it conveys, given that the person is unrecognizable.

If we are guessing who gets flayed and roasted, my list would include:

Rickon
Littlefinger
Dolorous Edd
Brienne
Pod
Red Shirt Northern Lord(s)

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I don't think its the Howland Reed angle. I think its something that Cercei might be able to use as blackmail with the HS? Who knows, we are probably all wrong...

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Oh, I think there is zero chance the high sparrow is Howland Reed. Was just making an example of something that would be of no use to Cersei. Further, what could she use as blackmail? They Tyrells, who are probably the only current threat to the high sparrow, already don't like him. Nothing she can find out or say will sway the faith militant. They will follow him no matter what. The common folk in city aren't going to give a crap. I literally think there is no info that could be found out about the high sparrow that would change anything.

edit: I'l amend to say that it's possible Tommen could learn something that would cause him to stop following blindly along with the Sparrow and this Faith/Crown twin pillars nonsense.

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They gave away Arya's parkour jump.

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Nothing of meaning in the parkour jump. Equating the burning man to being Rickon is more on the level of many of us buying into the shadow behind the waif being Syrio. This is the same concept. No way that's Rickon

She didn't think she could hide. She told lady crane as much when an acting position was offered and she warned the actress of the potential dangers.

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I don't think its the Howland Reed angle. I think its something that Cercei might be able to use as blackmail with the HS? Who knows, we are probably all wrong...

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I just don't see it as information. Qyburn gave Cersei the information only after she found out that trial by combat was no longer an option as sort of a last resort.

If they had something that would destroy the sparrow why not just use it to permanently remove him from his position? especially we he now holds sway over the king. Take for example the Sparrow = Howland Reed theory, which i do not buy at all, all she has to say is that a Northern lord is revolting against the crown by posing as the sparrow and its pretty much game over for the faith militant.

That was after she had already been attacked