The point of this thread is to have a place where we can speculate freely about Sunday night (and beyond) without worrying about whether our predictions are tainted by prior knowledge of the five novels or other material that Martin has blessed as canonical. You have insights from the books? Random Internet rumors based on interview slips or pictures of cast members on set? Post 'em here!
The only constraint, and it's more of a guideline, is not to post actual information from the episode. If some dumbass in the HBO International Subtitling Department leaks a script or video to Watchers on the Wall, just post a link and we can all decide for ourselves whether we want to see it.
I'll start with my top 10 semi-obvious predictions:
1. Bad night for the Tyrells;
2. Costly win for the Lannisters;
3. Tommen gets played by the Sparrow, but Margaery doesn't.
4. Uncle Benjen! Great to see you! Ummm... why so pale?
5 Bran harnesses enough of his powers to get back to the Tower of Joy, but not enough for a full Lyanna reveal;
6. Littlefinger double-crosses somebody;
7. Daenerys and Daario remain in walk-and-talk mode;
8. Tyrion tries to ride a new kind of dragon (Kinvara);
9. No f*cking clue what Arya will do at the theater, but her smile looks like she's pretty happy with her choice;
10. 10pm comes and goes, and Ramsay Bolton still isn't dead.
Death Pool Opening Odds:
Lady Crane 1-3
Bianca 1-2 (Arya has to kill somebody, right?)
Loras Tyrell 1-2
Olenna Tyrell 1-1 (biggest drop)
Mace Tyrell 1-1
Lyanna Stark* 3-2
Rickon Stark 2-1
Archmaester Pycelle 2-1
Margaery Tyrell 3-1
Kevan Lannister 3-1
Walder Frey 4-1
The Waif 4-1
Harald Karstark 5-1
Yohn Royce 5-1
Robin Arryn 6-1
Smalljon Umber 6-1
Petyr Baelish 7-1
Brienne of Tarth 8-1
Yara Greyjoy 10-1
Any Sand Snake 10-1
Ramsay Bolton 10-1
Benjen Stark 12-1
Theon Greyjoy 15-1
Brynden Tully 15-1
Jorah Mormont 15-1 (biggest improvement)
Tommen Baratheon 15-1
Frankenmountain 20-1
Meera Reed 20-1
Melisandre 20-1
Ashara Dayne* 20-1
Euron Greyjoy 25-1
Daario Naharis 25-1
Davos Seaworth 30-1
Varys 30-1
Grey Worm 40-1
Missandei 45-1
Cersei Lannister 50-1
Jaime Lannister 50-1
No Line: Daenerys Targaryen, Tyrion Lannister, Kinvara, Jon Snow, Arya Stark, Sansa Stark, Bran Stark, Tormund Giantsbane, Eddison Tollett, Gilly, Night's King, all members of House Tarly.
* - deceased
She comes down from Yellow Mountain
On a dark, flat land she rides
On a pony she named Wildfire
With a whirlwind by her side
On a cold Nebraska night
I thought that was supposed to be snow on the Iron Throne. SNOW on the Iron Throne.
The book version of her visions came up in my head a week ago. Part of that vision said something along the lines of: Three fires you will light. 1 for life, 1 for death and 1 for love. Seems to me she's now lit 2 fires. Arguably 1 to bring her dragons to life and 1 to kill the khal's. I might be reading into too much - hard to say the show is following the books at this point.
They need more screen time for Tyrion and Varys FFS, 2 of the most intriguing characters on the show IMO.
Interestingly enough, it's been leaked that episode 9 is titled "Battle of the Bastards," which means we'll likely get that Jon Snow/Ramsey Bolton show down everyone has been clamoring for. Since we've seen enough HBO series over the years now (looking specifically at you the Wire and the Sopranos), we know the penultimate episodes is usually where shit hits the fan.
montanagiant : 5/26/2016 10:15 am : link : reply
In comment 12971985 Scyber said:
Quote:
In comment 12971974 ZGiants98 said:
Quote:
for next week and Im convinced of two things. One. That's Benjen on the horse and he's going to rescue Bran. Further I'm guessing with all the time missing he's going to know how to hunt and kill the walkers.
Two. The Terrell's army is going down. The sparrow will be unharmed. Watch the preview and the entire city is surrounding their puny little army. They will get bum rushed.
I agree with the Tyrells going down. I think the High Sparrow told Tommen about who kill Joffrey, and Tommen then told Cersei. The plan to get the HS is just a plot to get the Tyrells to commit their army and the Lannisters will double-cross the Tyrells. Of course I think this will backfire for the Lannisters. W/o the Tyrells backing them they don't have many allies left.
There will not even be a battle, the Sparrows will let her go claiming she repented and that she is now a fellow sparrow
Up in the Riverlands, the Blackfish gives Jaime his latest dressing-down, while the doomed Freys try to get some mileage out of poor, hapless Edmure. Bronn appears to have signed up for another tour of lucrative Lannister duty, though he doesn't look like his usual cheerful self.
All in all, not likely to be a thriller. We might get Arya vs. the Waif in the streets of Braavos, plus the final arrangements for CleganeBowl.
I'm curious to see how the show-runners handle the siege of Riverrun. Walder and Cersei both think it's a soft target, and it is... until the defenders open the sluices. Jaime seems to have a firmer grasp of what he's up against.
She'll kill the Waif and the MFG will be satisfied.
It would be a waste if she never completes her training though.
I hope not. I think they have gotten all the mileage they can from that subplot.
I think she kills the waif and then Jaqen gives her a new job - maybe someone she is more interested in killing.
He's undoubtedly still on the Quiet Isle. Ian McShane hasn't been on yet, so they still need those scenes.
Lady Crane to Arya: "Do you like to pretend?"
Lady Crane to Arya: "Do you like to pretend?"
I took that conversation to be metaphors. She likes to pretend to be other people (faceless man not acting).
The House of B&W wasn't amused when she freelanced on Meryn Trant. Is it possible that Arya was supposed to kill the Waif all along, as a final test to complete her training, and that Lady Crane was a decoy?
Quote:
She'll kill the Waif and the MFG will be satisfied.
The House of B&W wasn't amused when she freelanced on Meryn Trant. Is it possible that Arya was supposed to kill the Waif all along, as a final test to complete her training, and that Lady Crane was a decoy?
That makes more sense to me...
Why would it be a waste? For all we know she may be practically done with her training. The training (even if aborted) provides a way to explain her growth in fighting and other skills. If the expectation is that she will return to westeros and participate in future wars/battles, there had to be some way to explain her skills. Or should she have just returned completely unexplained a few year later and start kicking ass?
Quote:
it will be the biggest plot waste I've ever seen. They can't possibly do that, can they? I think its more likely she kills Waif and gets back in Hygar's good graces.
Why would it be a waste? For all we know she may be practically done with her training. The training (even if aborted) provides a way to explain her growth in fighting and other skills. If the expectation is that she will return to westeros and participate in future wars/battles, there had to be some way to explain her skills. Or should she have just returned completely unexplained a few year later and start kicking ass?
It would be a waste to have her join the theater troupe. Do we really need scenes of Richard E Grant yelling at her for improvising her lines?
Quote:
In comment 12977031 UConn4523 said:
Quote:
it will be the biggest plot waste I've ever seen. They can't possibly do that, can they? I think its more likely she kills Waif and gets back in Hygar's good graces.
Why would it be a waste? For all we know she may be practically done with her training. The training (even if aborted) provides a way to explain her growth in fighting and other skills. If the expectation is that she will return to westeros and participate in future wars/battles, there had to be some way to explain her skills. Or should she have just returned completely unexplained a few year later and start kicking ass?
It would be a waste to have her join the theater troupe. Do we really need scenes of Richard E Grant yelling at her for improvising her lines?
That casting decision alone makes it seem like that will be Arya's ticket back to king's landing or at least out of Braavos.
Quote:
In comment 12977039 Scyber said:
Quote:
In comment 12977031 UConn4523 said:
Quote:
it will be the biggest plot waste I've ever seen. They can't possibly do that, can they? I think its more likely she kills Waif and gets back in Hygar's good graces.
Why would it be a waste? For all we know she may be practically done with her training. The training (even if aborted) provides a way to explain her growth in fighting and other skills. If the expectation is that she will return to westeros and participate in future wars/battles, there had to be some way to explain her skills. Or should she have just returned completely unexplained a few year later and start kicking ass?
It would be a waste to have her join the theater troupe. Do we really need scenes of Richard E Grant yelling at her for improvising her lines?
That casting decision alone makes it seem like that will be Arya's ticket back to king's landing or at least out of Braavos.
That will be a drag...
My thoughts as well.
Not sure how she is supposed to get away from that.
Arya, IMO, leaves the many face gods and the faceless men assassin academy or whatever it is, and realizes she's a Stark, she kills the waif with needle and picks up her list of vengeance where she left off. She found herself.
I think she heads back to kings landing to kill Cercei.
I also think when fighting the waif she might harness some of her warg powers or somehow she connects back with Nymeria.
One small thing I wanted to note was the symmetry between Jaime's dismissal here and Barristan Selmy's several seasons ago, both being sent away furious after long careers in the Kingsguard.
Arya, IMO, leaves the many face gods and the faceless men assassin academy or whatever it is, and realizes she's a Stark, she kills the waif with needle and picks up her list of vengeance where she left off. She found herself.
I think she heads back to kings landing to kill Cercei.
I also think when fighting the waif she might harness some of her warg powers or somehow she connects back with Nymeria.
Getting back to the Riverlands too... Hoping we see a Nymeria appearance. What a handsome do...errr..direwolf,
Quote:
In comment 12977040 Chris in Philly said:
Quote:
In comment 12977039 Scyber said:
Quote:
In comment 12977031 UConn4523 said:
Quote:
it will be the biggest plot waste I've ever seen. They can't possibly do that, can they? I think its more likely she kills Waif and gets back in Hygar's good graces.
Why would it be a waste? For all we know she may be practically done with her training. The training (even if aborted) provides a way to explain her growth in fighting and other skills. If the expectation is that she will return to westeros and participate in future wars/battles, there had to be some way to explain her skills. Or should she have just returned completely unexplained a few year later and start kicking ass?
It would be a waste to have her join the theater troupe. Do we really need scenes of Richard E Grant yelling at her for improvising her lines?
That casting decision alone makes it seem like that will be Arya's ticket back to king's landing or at least out of Braavos.
That will be a drag...
You're probably not gonna hire that type of veteran actor otherwise. It was also basically stated that she was acting with the troupe in the released Arya chapter from WoW.
can you refresh my memory? what was it about?
Yeah - casting Grant sort of screams, "Keep an eye on the theater troupe." It looks as though they will be to Arya what the Ironborn are to Daenerys - on a much smaller scale, obviously.
Speaking of which, did Daario just estimate that Daenerys would need a thousand ships to transport her forces to Westeros. Funny coincidence, that.
These are the most lethal assassins in the realm. Literally impossible to identify. She's seen their inner workings. Wouldn't they hunt her down and kill her?
Quote:
In comment 12977031 UConn4523 said:
Quote:
it will be the biggest plot waste I've ever seen. They can't possibly do that, can they? I think its more likely she kills Waif and gets back in Hygar's good graces.
Why would it be a waste? For all we know she may be practically done with her training. The training (even if aborted) provides a way to explain her growth in fighting and other skills. If the expectation is that she will return to westeros and participate in future wars/battles, there had to be some way to explain her skills. Or should she have just returned completely unexplained a few year later and start kicking ass?
It would be a waste to have her join the theater troupe. Do we really need scenes of Richard E Grant yelling at her for improvising her lines?
Ahh..misread. Travelling with the troupe could provide 2 things though:
Additional learning about disguises. While she learned to change her appearance, she never learned how to put on someone else's face. The Acting troupe may provide help in "putting on someone else's face" without the FM magic (or whatever it is). Obviously not as good of a disguise, but it still could be a help.
Access. The theatre troupe could give her easy access to the castles of the Lords of Westeros that she wouldn't get on her own.
Separately - why are so many people convinced Sandor Clegane is alive? Arya abandoned him and his festering wounds, no? Or was that only in the books?
Speaking of which: Am I the only person who has read the books and gets confused by what he has seen v what he has read? e.g., "Oh, Coldhands wasn't even there when they battled the wights by the Giant Weir Tree in the show... I could swear he was there!" And Gendry and Edric get "merged" on the show, etc. I'm currently re-reading the books and am picking up a lot of things I missed first time through, but sometimes I jumble the show/books timeline.
"You know nothing, Don Draper."
Quote:
I forgot about the Mercy chapter from WoW. Man, they better wrap this storyline the fuck up with a quickness...
can you refresh my memory? what was it about?
Never mind, I found it on line.
Didn't realize it was a chapter from the unreleased book
For one thing it seems like there aren't really any or many trees on the iron islands.
Secondly how many trees do you think it takes to build one ship? The ones Stannis had in the battle of Blackwater looked like my guess at least 500 trees. maybe even 1000. This is not my area of expertise though, so say it's 500.
they'd need half a million trees.
And how long do you think it takes to build these boats?
Just seems like it would takes years to build them and they'd need to get trees from other places.
I believe at some point we will see Euron with 1,000 ships and I am cool with dragons flying around and Jon Snow coming back from the dead, but I have a hard time believing they'll be able to build that many ships by the time we see them, whenever that might be.