2013-06-20T00:19:15-04:00 Amy Lee http://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/index.php?author=amy-lee Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Amy Lee Good old fashioned elbow grease. tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.3415221 2013-06-10T18:21:02-04:00 2013-06-11T14:41:38-04:00

Amy Lee http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-lee/ Note: Do not read on if you have not seen Season 3, Episode 10 of HBO's "Game of Thrones," titled "Mhysa."

"Any man who has to say 'I am the king' is no true king." -- Tywin Lannister

The season's last episode, "Mhysa," leaves us, and the denizens of Westeros, in a delicate situation. As some readers may already know, the show's creators decided to split the third book into two seasons -- this season, and next season.

As a result, we get the feeling that there are a lot of unresolved issues -- people whose actions may yet destroy them, winners who have not tasted their victory spoils, and minor players who are waiting patiently for their moments. While Arya has truly embarked on her pilgrimage to the God of Death, Bran and Sam meet at the Nightfort, Jon finally returns home to Castle Black (full of an angry Ygritte's arrows), a handless Jaime returns to his sister, Yara sets off to rescue her gelded brother Theon, and in the east, Daenerys continues to conquer. Joffrey is still the King in name, but his advisors seem a little fed up with the scummy little sadist and meanwhile, Stannis begins his journey north to what Melisandre calls the true threat.

It's the end of the season, but read on to see how the power rankings stand:

The Power Rankings
Using a complex algorithm that takes into account each player's wealth, military might and dominion over lands, along with a "bonus" factor that adjusts for unquantifiable assets that could influence events, we've surveyed the lay of the land to figure out who is winning the game of thrones after the tenth episode of season three of "Game of Thrones," entitled "Mhysa."




1. Tywin Lannister (Last Episode: 1) Without fighting a single battle, Tywin managed to kill Robb Stark and quash the northern rebellion in one fell swoop. All it required was some carefully orchestrated treachery -- in this case, with the help of Walder Frey and Roose Bolton and the violation of Guest Right (which, of course, we see referenced in Bran's tale of the Rat Cook at Nightfort).


2. Daenerys Targaryen (Last Episode: 2) Mhysa! Mhysa! Mhysa!

Daenerys caps this episode, in a brief, but important scene which establishes the primary difference between her and her opponents -- her subjects worship her. It's hard to imagine Joffrey, or Stannis, or even Robb (R.I.P.) surfing the mosh pit of former slaves quite so ecstatically as our dragon princess. And with her three pets only growing bigger, we expect there'll be more people out there calling her "mother" before this game is done.


3. Margaery & Olenna Tyrell (Last Episode: 3) No Margaery and Olenna in this episode, but as we've heard, the wedding's still a go.


4. Joffrey Baratheon (Last Episode: 4) Joffrey's idea of being king is having the power to serve his aunt-in-law the head of her dead brother on a plate. But, as we saw in this episode, he doesn't really even have the power to do that, nor any say in the actual running of the kingdom. As his grandfather Tywin put it to Tyrion, "You're a fool if you think he's the most powerful man in Westeros." But his is the head that wears the crown, no matter how many people wish he were dead.


5. Stannis Baratheon (Last Episode: -) Davos can read now! Though that pesky "ni-ght" is still getting him all bollixed up. Still, he puts his newfound ability to good use, rushing over to bring Stannis news of troubles at the Wall. Good thing, too: Davos has just put our favorite bastard, Gendry, on a little boat to King's Landing. Gendry isn't much of a sailor, but Davos' actions mean that Gendry's kingblood is no longer available to Melisandre.

Stannis sentences Davos to die, but Melisandre, of all people, stops him when she reads the letter. Stannis has to head to the real war in the North -- and he's going to need his Onion Knight. This unconventional decision, combined with the impact Melisandre's blood magic had on affairs in Westeros, propels the King in the Narrow Sea back into our Power Rankings for the first time since his disastrous defeat at the Battle of Blackwater.


Wildcards
These characters are important, but don't make it to the top five in our Power Rankings -- yet.


Roose Bolton (Last Episode:5) Lord Bolton's tenure on the Power Rankings was brief. True, we found out this episode that Lord Tywin plans to make him Acting Warden of the North, allowing him to sit in Winterfell until Tyrion and Sansa's son (if any) comes of age. But we also got confirmation of our hunch that Tywin, not Roose or Walder, was the prime mover of the slaughter. More crucially, we finally learned that Theon's psychotic torturer was none other than Ramsay Snow, Roose Bolton's bastard son. That means that House Bolton holds Theon, an important bargaining chip, but it also means that Yara Greyjoy is going after them. Plus, with Stannis planning on riding toward the North, Roose could soon have a serious challenge to his wardenship.


Yara Greyjoy Yara and her father Balon get a profanity-laced letter from sicko Ramsay Snow -- explaining that he has been torturing Theon for months. Snow also sends King Greyjoy the gift of his son's genitalia, which must surely be an elaborate "dick in a box" joke by showrunners Daniel Benioff and D.B. Weiss. Balon renounces Theon, but learning about the mutilation has the opposite effect on Yara. She decides to lead 50 of her strongest men in the fastest ship she owns all the way around Westeros, up the Narrow Sea and into the Dreadfort to take her brother back. Strong lady!


Arya Stark While riding a horse away from the Twins with The Hound, Arya sees her brother's direwolf's head sown onto his body -- a gruesome thing for even a tough girl like her to witness. Later, when she overhears some Bolton goons bragging about their role in the slaughter, she gets her revenge. She tricks one of them into letting down his guard, then stabs him repeatedly in the back. Sandor Clegane kills the rest, then asks her to give him a heads up next time she wants to go postal. She then strokes her precious Faceless Man coin and whispers "Valar Morghulis," so it's pretty clear to everyone that there will be a next time. The Starks may get their revenge after all.


Bran Stark At the Nightfort, Bran tells his travel companions the spooky story of the Rat King, whom the gods punished for violating the Guest Right, which primes them all to be freaked out when they hear a rasping sound in the middle of the night. But it's just Samwell Tarly, wheezing as he climbs up out of the sally port beneath The Wall! He recognizes Bran by his direwolf, and promises to help him however he can. Bran rejects his offer of safe harbor at Castle Black, though, explaining that he needs to go north of The Wall to protect Westeros from the Others. Apparently, he's the only one who can! Sam gives him a couple obsidian blades to help, then points the way north for Bran, the Reeds and sweet, sweet Hodor.


Samwell Tarly After showing Bran et al. the way north of The Wall, Sam travels east to Castle Black, where he bashfully tries to explain his boo Gilly to Maester Aemon. He's dubious, but Sam manages to finagle a guest spot for her. Then Maester Aemon asks him to write letters to every major lord in Westeros, asking for help in the fight against the Others.


Jon Snow Jon encounters his Wildling boo at a stream somewhere on the path to Castle Black. As she aims her bow and arrow at him, he tells her he loves her and says there's no way she'll hurt him -- not realizing that his betrayal already hurt her more than he knew. She shoots him three times before he escapes, but apparently, that's not enough to kill him, as he manages to ride all the way to Castle Black. With three arrows sticking out of his body!


Cersei Lannister Caught between her spoiled vicious brat of a son and her tyrant of a father, Cersei isn't a very happy lady. But she tells Tyrion that she would have been even more unhappy had it not been for her children -- the sole source of joy in her life. Even Joff.


Tyrion Lannister Tyrion has a moment of happiness with his new bride Sansa as they commiserate about being laughed at while walking through a garden in King's Landing. But it's short-lived -- immediately afterwards, Tyrion finds out about the Red Wedding, which he knows will make him an enemy in Sansa's eyes forever. To make matters worse, his father commands him to make Sansa pregnant ASAP -- by any means necessary.


Brienne of Tarth & Jaime Lannister These two friends finally make it back to King's Landing. Their odyssey is over! But Jaime's handlessness makes it harder for Cersei to welcome him home than he expected. You can never go home again, not quite.

]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.3376442 2013-06-03T14:40:25-04:00 2013-06-03T14:40:26-04:00

Amy Lee http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-lee/ Note: Do not read on if you have not seen Season 3, Episode 9 of HBO's "Game of Thrones," titled "Rains of Castamere." Seriously. Don't do it.

"All men should keep their words, kings most of all." -- Robb Stark

If you didn't cry during "Rains of Castamere," you either weren't paying attention or don't have a heart.

The ninth episodes of the past two seasons of "Game of Thrones" -- "Baelor" and "Blackwater" -- were powerful and sad and epic, but this was far more epic, sad and powerful still. And bold! It featured the shocking event known as the "Red Wedding," in which "A Song of Ice and Fire" series author George R.R. Martin kills off two of his most sympathetic characters, Catelyn and Robb Stark. Book readers like us have been dreading this sequence since the beginning of the TV series. But to judge by the social media reaction Sunday night, many TV watchers were totally blind-sided by what is, in hindsight, a near-inevitable reaction to Robb's decision to marry Talisa. Yet, actually seeing the gruesome deed on screen was affecting no matter what level of knowledge you approached it with.

The Red Wedding, though, wasn't the only thing to happen during "Rains of Castemere." Dany, Jon and Bran had unusually action-packed storylines as well. Scroll down to see how all the tumult and tragedy affected the original "Game of Thrones" Power Rankings.

The Power Rankings
Using a complex algorithm that takes into account each player's wealth, military might and dominion over lands, along with a "bonus" factor that adjusts for unquantifiable assets that could influence events, we've surveyed the lay of the land to figure out who is winning the game of thrones after the ninth episode of season three of "Game of Thrones," entitled "Rains Of Castamere."




1. Tywin Lannister (Last Episode: 1) We may not have seen Tywin in the flesh this episode, but we saw the brutality he's capable of point blank. Roose Bolton made it abundantly clear that he was the chief architect of The Red Wedding when he said, as he was shoving a sword in Robb Stark's belly, "The Lannisters send their regards." Tywin is also among the primary beneficiaries of the bloody event. With Houses Tyrell and Martell tied to his grandchildren by betrothal, Houses Tully and Stark mostly dead, Houses Baratheon and Greyjoy on the run and Houses Frey and Bolton in his back pocket, he's more or less uncontested as the leader of Westeros.


2. Daenerys Targaryen (Last Episode: 3) The Red Wedding's impact on Dany is rather ambiguous. Technically, she now has one fewer rival claimant to the Iron Throne. But when or if she ever does get to Westeros, she now faces a united front -- yet, she becomes more ready for that sort of challenge by the day. This episode, she took control of Yunkai, yet another major city in Slaver's Bay. More people live there than in almost any city in Westeros. It's a long way from the Iron Throne, but it's a major accomplishment. (Maybe the equivalent of conquering Abu Dhabi and Dubai, while trying to take over England, if we're looking for a terrestrial analogy?) Moreover, she took Yunkai without even using her dragons! Just her trusted lieutenants, who now include Daario Naharis.


3. Margaery & Olenna Tyrell (Last Episode: 2) Don't get us wrong: the Ladies of the Reach didn't get any weaker this episode. They still have lots of money and lots of men. But with the Stark rebellion quashed, and without their help, they don't have quite the value to Tywin that they once did. They've also just lost some luster vis-a-vis Danaerys.


4. Joffrey Baratheon (Last Episode: 4) The Shithead King benefitted almost as much as Tywin from the Red Wedding. He has no rivals left on the mainland of Westeros. (And we can't imagine he's all that worried about Stannis Baratheon or Balon Greyjoy.)


5. Roose Bolton (Last Episode: -) What a dick. What a rich, powerful, treacherous, chainmail-wearing dick.


Dead: Robb Stark (Last Episode 5) Robb was the most honorable, likable and handsome of the contenders for the Iron Throne. It was impossible not to root for him, even (or especially) when he did impulsive things like marry a foreigner for love instead of doing his duty and marrying a Frey girl. So we were pumped to see him and Catelyn conferring about a plan to invade Casterly Rock, the Lannister home base. Can you say comeback? Alas, it wasn't to be. Walder Frey and Roose Bolton had already made a pact with the devil (i.e. Tywin Lannister) to have him killed at his uncle Edmure's wedding, along with his mother and his beautiful, pregnant wife (which should put speculation about her motives to rest). With Robb and his fetal heir Ned dead, the Stark Rebellion is over. At least until Sansa, Bran, Rickon and Arya accrue enough influence to take revenge.

Wildcards
These characters are important, but don't make it to the top five in our Power Rankings -- yet.


Arya Stark Arya and the Hound almost seem to be getting along -- he threatens her, and she threatens him right back, coolly promising to drive a sword through his eye until it sticks out the other side of his head. He brings her to the Twins to exchange her for some gold, but she runs off, just in time to see a table of northern men slaughtered and Robb's wolf killed. The Hound hoists her over his shoulder again, and they're off.


Bran Stark Arya isn't the only Stark to have a close brush with family this week. As Bran, Rickon, Osha, Hodor and the Reeds hide out in a tower near the Wall, Jon and his band of Wildlings ride up below. Hodor, predictably, freaks out, yelling Hodor in a very aggressive manner, until Bran's eyes roll back and Hodor passes out. Later on, Bran does it again, this time, slipping into his wolf and aiding his brother Jon's escape. Also: Rickon and Osha agree to leave together. Osha doesn't want to go north, and Bran doesn't want his little brother -- the heir to Winterfell should something happen to many more of the Starks -- in danger. Rickon's not happy about leaving his brother's side, but Bran is on the hunt for the three-eyed raven.


Jon Snow The Wildlings attack the Watch's horsebreeder, and to prove Jon's innocence, ask him to slit his throat. Ygritte intervenes, sending an arrow into the man's chest before Jon can reveal his perfidy. But it's no use. The Wildlings aren't convinced, a melee breaks out, and with Bran's help (in the body of a wolf noshing on an enemy Wildling's throat), Jon flings himself onto the back of a horse and rides away, leaving behind a stunned and sad looking Ygritte.


Samwell Tarly After heroically dispatching of one icy Other, Sam also uses his wizard powers (literacy) to make it just outside of an empty Watch castle. Gilly is suitably impressed.

"Game of Thrones" airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.

]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.3306439 2013-05-20T16:05:59-04:00 2013-05-21T16:25:27-04:00

Amy Lee http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-lee/ Note: Do not read on if you have not seen Season 3, Episode 8 of HBO's "Game of Thrones," titled "Second Sons."

"Ambitious climbers never want to stay on the second highest rung." -- Cersei Lannister

There aren't any runner-ups in the game of thrones. You win, or you die -- or so we've heard. This week's episode, "Second Sons," focuses on the ambitions of those who haven't yet reached the heights they seek -- Tyrion Lannister (a second son) marries Sansa Stark, in a drunk blaze, while Gendry's blood is used to advance the fortunes of another second son, Stannis Baratheon. Meanwhile, Arya continues her captivity at the hands of the Hound (a second son), Daenerys Targaryen wins the support of the mercenary band, the Second Sons, and Samwell Tarly encounters -- and defeats! -- a blue-eyed Other.

The Power Rankings
Using a complex algorithm that takes into account each player's wealth, military might and dominion over lands, along with a "bonus" factor that adjusts for unquantifiable assets that could influence events, we've surveyed the lay of the land to figure out who is winning the game of thrones after the eighth episode of season three of "Game of Thrones," entitled "Second Sons."




1. Tywin Lannister (Last Episode: 1) Though he's managed to get Tyrion wed, he's more focused on the marriage bed. Watching his imp child get ragingly drunk, Tywin reminds him that he "needs to perform" if he wants a baby in his wife's stomach. Tyrion gets drunker, then tells Sansa he won't share her bed until she wants him there.

"But what if I never want to?" she asks him.

"And so my watch begins," he replies. Tywin may be waiting quite some time.


2. Margaery & Olenna Tyrell (Last Episode: 2) Margaery's charms work less well on the mother than the son. After she tells Cersei how much she's looking forward to being her sister, Cersei tells her the story behind the song, "The Rains of Castamere." House Reyne was the second wealthiest family in Westeros -- just like the Tyrells. But when they rebelled against the Lannisters, "every man, woman and child" was slaughtered and left to rot on the walls for a long summer.

"If you call me sister again I'll have you strangled in your sleep," Cersei tells her soon-to-be daughter- (and sister- !) in-law.


3. Daenerys Targaryen (Last Episode: 3) After the lords of Yunkai have departed, Dany has a meeting with the captains of the Second Sons, a mercenary band who sees her as nothing more than a clothed vagina with a scant 8,000 men. One of them offers to let Dany bear his second sons. Her response: "Give me your Second Sons and I may not have you gelded." The captains plot to have her murdered under the dark of the new moon, but instead, upstart Lieutenant Daario Naharis (a long-haired former whore, if the others are correct) chooses to uphold his personal philosophy, which heralds "the thrill of fucking a woman who wants to be fucked" and "the thrill of killing a man who wants to kill you." Her "beauty" was enough to convince him to turn on his comrades, he tells Dany. "I'm the simplest man you'll ever meet," he promises. "I only do what I want to do." He swears his sword, and his love, to the Dragon Queen.


4. Joffrey Baratheon (Last Episode: 5) The Shithead King is in fine form this episode, standing in as Sansa's father (her own, thanks to him, is not available) and taking away Tyrion's step stool so that Sansa is forced to kneel at his feet for the cloaking ceremony. Later, he takes Sansa aside and tells her sweetly how he will rape her as often as he chooses. But when he tries to initiate the bedding ceremony, Tyrion's had enough and warns him that he'll be "fucking [his] own bride with a wooden cock" if he continues to be such a miserable little wretch.


5. Robb Stark (Last Episode: 4) No Robb in this episode, but it doesn't help the North's cause to have his younger sister (and, in the eyes of many, his heir) married to a Lannister.


Wildcards
These characters are important, but don't make it to the top five in our Power Rankings -- yet.


Cersei Lannister Cersei's been testy with Margaery all season. But this episode, hostilities hit a new peak when Margaery referred to the Queen Regent as "sister." It's not likely Margaery will forget that one when she, not Cersei, is queen.

Nor is Cersei making inroads with her fiance Loras. He approaches her while she's looking out at Blackwater Bay and tries to tell her an anecdote that had been related to him by his father Mace. But she cuts him off. "Nobody cares what your father once told you," she says angrily.


Tyrion Lannister In terms of the balance of power, the most important event this episode was certainly Tyrion's unhappy marriage to Sansa. If the Lannisters win their war against Robb (by no means a given), the wedding will make Tyrion the Lord of Winterfell, securing Lannister preeminence across the vast majority of the country.

But Tyrion's still not happy about it. He knows full well that Sansa doesn't want to marry him. And he doesn't want to marry her. He tries to build a bridge to her, using their mutual distaste for the wedding, saying, "I know how you feel." But she doesn't take the bait, and instead keeps her distance. During the ceremony, he's embarrassed when he can't reach Sansa's shoulders to place his cloak atop them. And afterwards, he drinks enough wine to get utterly wasted, surpassing even the impressive level of inebriation Cersei demonstrated during the Battle of Blackwater last season. Though his father urges moderation, to make sure Tyrion will be able to consummate the wedding, Tyrion is too considerate of Sansa's (and Shae's) feelings to go through with the act once they're alone in their wedding chamber. He tells Sansa that they won't sleep together until she wants to. What a nice boy! But if part of his intent with this gesture was to win Sansa over with his chivalry, she isn't having any of it. "What if I never want to sleep with you?" she asks. Well, then the wedding wouldn't be a real wedding -- and Sansa could get an annulment.


Sansa Stark The character who's suffered the most this season is clearly Theon. But Sansa must be the runner-up. She looks like she's on the verge of tears throughout her entire wedding weekend, despite Tyrion's best efforts at gentlemanliness. That said, it's not necessarily too late for Sansa to have a comeback and take revenge on her enemies. The Tyrells clearly still like her -- and if she and Tyrion can reach some sort of truce, they'll wield enough influence to be a serious threat to Joffrey and Cersei ... not necessarily Tywin, but he'll die sooner or later. Valar morghulis! (The "hakuna matata" of our time?)


Arya Stark Arya's angry enough about having been captured by The Hound that she considers smashing his head in with a big rock. But he senses her presence and talks her out of it -- then reveals that he plans to take her to her brother and mother at the Twins, not back to King's Landing. It seems he's telling the truth when he says there are worse people than him -- even if he's just returning her for the reward the Starks will give him.


Gendry & Melisandre Once these two get to Dragonstone, Melisandre reveals that she intends to slaughter Gendry like a lamb -- but that she wants to make sure he doesn't see the knife coming before she makes the cut. So she plies him with wine, sex and promises of divine preordination. But it seems death isn't in the cards quite yet. Davos Seaworth's objections lead Stannis to command Melisandre to prove that Gendry's king's blood is as powerful as the Red Lady says. So she drops leeches all over his body instead...


Stannis Baratheon ...which Stannis drops in a brazier one by one, naming one of his usurper enemies each time he does. The idea here seems to be that, if Robb Stark, Balon Greyjoy and Joffrey Baratheon all die, it'll prove the power of Gendry's blood, allowing Stannis to sacrifice him despite their kinship.


Samwell Tarly Samwell's sequence, at the very end of this episode, very quickly transitioned from cute flirty banter with Gilly to the very scariest scene so far in "Game of Thrones." Crows start to caw outside their broken down hovel in the snow. The volume increases and Samwell offers to go outside, sword in hand. An Other approaches. Gilly shouts that it wants her baby, but Samwell is determined to keep it. He brandishes his sword -- and the magical creature snaps it in half then throws Samwell aside. The White Walker is about to grab Gilly's son when Samwell finds his antique obsidian arrowhead in his pocket. He takes it out, runs at the Other and plunges it into his back in a last ditch effort to save the baby. Miraculously, it works. The Other screams in pain, falls to the ground and shatters into a icy dust. What just happened?

"Game of Thrones" airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.

]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.3264412 2013-05-13T13:31:58-04:00 2013-05-21T16:06:03-04:00

Amy Lee http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-lee/ Note: Do not read on if you have not seen Season 3, Episode 7 of HBO's "Game of Thrones," titled "The Bear And The Maiden Fair."

"What happens to things that don't bend?" -- Danaerys Targaryen

If you didn't know that this week's episode, "The Bear and the Maiden Fair," had been written by George R.R. Martin, would you ever have guessed it?

Yes, it was an unusually drama-packed 60 minutes, with every storyline showcasing the series' signature mix of sex, violence and political intrigue. But the plot also deviated even further from the books than it did in "The Climb." And there were a couple notes -- Talisa's mother not knowing about her marriage, Melisandre being allowed to sail up to Blackwater Bay without being accosted by the Lannisters -- that strained credulity. And some of the most exciting scenes were terribly lurid.

Still, it was a strong episode, on balance. Like the recent few, it focused more on characters at the periphery of power than the center. That's not a bad thing for drama -- but it does mean our Power Rankings haven't shifted much in a while. Scroll down to find out why.

The Power Rankings
Using a complex algorithm that takes into account each player's wealth, military might and dominion over lands, along with a "bonus" factor that adjusts for unquantifiable assets that could influence events, we've surveyed the lay of the land to figure out who is winning the game of thrones after the seventh episode of season three of "Game of Thrones," entitled "The Bear and the Maiden Fair."




1. Tywin Lannister (Last Episode: 1) Tywin taught us a new power move this week: When Joffrey complains from his seat on the Iron Throne that he would have to climb the stairs in the Tower of the Hand to get to his small council meetings, Tywin looks at his grandson with disgust and walks, silently, the 15-odd feet toward the King. Joffrey looks like he's on the verge of tears. Tywin finally breaks the deafening silence. "We could arrange to have you carried," he says. Never has a slavishly generous offer sounded so unappealing. Or so menacing. This hand is made for punching in the gut.


2. Margaery & Olenna Tyrell (Last Episode: 2) No Diana Rigg this episode, which makes us sad! And Margaery got just one scene, with Sansa. But it was a delicious one, in which the soon-to-be-queen shows Sansa the extent to which she (and, assumedly, her mother) is focusing on the long game. She knows full well that Joffrey will be a terrible husband -- but she plans to teach her son, who will be king, how to be a man in her image. She's an amateur educator, it seems -- this episode, she also reveals her saucy side by giving the young Lady Stark a lesson in conjugal pleasure.


3. Daenerys Targaryen (Last Episode: 3) Tywin, in his conversation with Joffrey, dismisses Daenaery's dragons as "curiosities on the other side of the world," comparing them to the stunted dragons that hatched and died a century before Robert's Rebellion. But we know better. Dany finally reaches Yunkai this episode, and she's determined to attack it in order to free the 200,000 slaves who live inside. She explains as much to the Master of Yunkai, despite his offer of ships and gold in exchange for peace. He's furious, and threatens to enslave Danaerys as well as all her followers once Yunkai wins the fight with the help of its "powerful friends." Her dragons react to this threat fiercely, scaring him and his slaves away without their gold. But afterwards, she shows that she's taken his threat seriously by asking Jorah Mormont to find out just who these "powerful friends" are. They could, after all, be anyone: Dany's crusade against slavery may be noble, but it's also economically disruptive. What happens in Slaver's Bay doesn't stay in Slaver's Bay.


4. Robb Stark (Last Episode: 5) After several grim episodes, Robb gets his mojo back this episode when he finds out that his beautiful wife Talisa is pregnant. With an heir on its way, he suddenly finds himself thinking about the future again. His restored energy may just be enough to overcome an ever-shrinking army and some actions, on Roose Bolton's part, that look awfully close to treason.


5. Joffrey Baratheon (Last Episode: 4) If Joffrey were the king anywhere else in the world -- Yunkai, say, or the North -- he'd probably have his sadistic way with everyone under his control. Alas, he's in King's Landing, so his every step is dogged by master manipulators Tywin and Margaery. They suck all the power out of the air, leaving him with barely enough to maintain his believability as the nominal ruler of the Seven Kingdoms.


Wildcards
These characters are important, but don't make it to the top five in our Power Rankings -- yet.


Brienne of Tarth & Jaime Lannister Jaime's free, but Brienne's been left behind with the asshole who cut off Jaime's hand. After learning that he's rejected her father's ransom, Jaime neatly forces his escort to go back to Harrenhal and discovers our fair maiden at the bottom of a pit with only an angry bear for company. Repaying his debt to her, he jumps into the pit and saves the girl.


Tyrion Lannister Just as Margaery tries to comfort Sansa, Bronn comforts Tyrion -- the sellsword knows that Tyrion wants to bed young Sansa, even if he claims he doesn't. Shae believes the same. Tyrion's gift of gold -- enough for a ship! -- and promises of stability are rejected out of hand. She's only his whore, and nothing he says will change the fact that she'll have to change his wife's chamberpot while he's enjoying his matrimonial bed.


Sansa Stark Tyrion's short stature has Sansa worried, but Margaery reassures her. Tyrion, after all, is much nicer than some of the other Lannisters roaming King's Landing. Besides, Tyrion has a lot of experience in bed (a good thing) and Sansa's children will one day rule both Casterly Rock and the North. As a woman, she counsels Sansa, you have to figure out what you like. How does Margaery know? Her mother told her (a stretch of the truth Sansa swallows up whole).


Arya Stark Still tagging along with the Brotherhood without Banners, Arya is displeased to find out that her captors plan to move away from Riverrun -- where they promised to take her. The god she worships, by the way, is Death (her prayers are the names of the men and women she wants to kill). She runs away into the forest and manages to escape, only to be caught by Sandor Clegane, who hoists her over a shoulder and carries her off. But where will he take her?


Jon Snow Has Jon really turned his back on the Night's Watch? Orell doesn't think so, and he tells Ygritte as much, counseling her to go for a real man, like him. She shrugs him off and goes back to her highborn lover, who delivers her a warning: The Wildlings will lose the war they want to wage. But no matter how passionately he tries to scare her into submission, she chooses to ignore what is so obviously a clue to Jon's real allegiances and declares that for now, she will live (and make out against the sides of boulders).


Gendry & Melisandre As the former blacksmith sails past King's Landing, Melisandre admits to having been a slave. But the Lord of Light lifted her up and saved her. And, by the way, King's Landing is Gendry's father's house -- Melisandre reveals something that most watchers probably already knew, but that Gendry seems not to have guessed. His body is full of king's blood, and that blood is useful.


Bran Stark Following Jojen's vision of Jon Snow, Bran decides that they will skip Castle Black and go straight to the other side of the Wall. He wants to get to that creepy three-eyed raven beckoning to him in his dreams. Osha is not pleased. She left her home for a reason, and lets Bran and the others in on what that reason is -- her ex-lover left her, returned as a wight, and made her burn her hut down, with him inside.


Theon Greyjoy Just when it seems like things may have turned around for Theon (although the women who come to strip him and ride him seem more sadistic than seductive), it becomes clear that the torture is not over yet. What is Theon's most precious part? It's the one between his legs, which his captor removes gleefully to the tune of Theon's screaming.

"Game of Thrones" airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.



CORRECTION: This post has been amended to change references to "Brave Companions" and "Other" to "Brotherhood without Banners" and "Wight." ]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.3223065 2013-05-06T16:19:38-04:00 2013-05-06T16:40:54-04:00

Amy Lee http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-lee/ Note: Do not read on if you have not seen Season 3, Episode 6 of HBO's "Game of Thrones," titled "The Climb."

"Chaos isn't a pit. Chaos is a ladder. Many who try to climb it fail and never get to try again. The fall breaks them." -- Petyr Baelish

The sixth episode of this season's "Game of Thrones" is called "The Climb," for more reasons than one. The most obvious -- the Wildlings' ascent of the Wall -- gives us Jon and Ygritte armed with picks and ropes as they scale the monstrous ice sheet. Elsewhere, Melisandre pays an unfortunate trip to the Brotherhood Without Banners in search of king's blood (and delivers Arya a minor prophecy), Theon continues to enjoy some terrible tortures, Jaime and Brienne share dinner, Samwell sings in the woods, and Tyrion gives Sansa bad news.

Of all the episodes this season -- or possibly even of the series -- this was the one that deviated furthest from the plot of the books. Many of the scenes were completely new (as was all the strange focus on Loras's homosexuality, which is never directly acknowledged in Martin's original saga). But because most of these new scenes focused on characters outside the main locus of power, our Power Rankings didn't shift appreciably. Read on to find out why. (Also, if the lack of movement is starting to bore you, don't worry: a similar calcification took place around this time last season, before the tumultuous end of season shook things up again.)

The Power Rankings
Using a complex algorithm that takes into account each player's wealth, military might and dominion over lands, along with a "bonus" factor that adjusts for unquantifiable assets that could influence events, we've surveyed the lay of the land to figure out who is winning the game of thrones after the sixth episode of season three of "Game of Thrones," entitled "The Climb."




1. Tywin Lannister (Last Episode: 1) Tywin goes to plead his case with Olenna Tyrell, who rejects Cersei as a prospective granddaughter-in-law. "She's rich, the most beautiful woman in the seven kingdoms, and mother of the king," says Tywin.

Olenna disagrees -- Cersei is old. Pretty soon her "change" (menopause?) will be upon her and she won't be able to bear any children. Tywin counters by pointing out Loras's nighttime habits, and while Olenna knows that Loras is a "sword swallower through and through," she also notes that the Tyrells "don't tie [themselves] into knots over a discreet bit of buggery." Incest, on the other hand ... But Tywin isn't having it. He threatens to name Loras to the Kingsguard if he doesn't marry Cersei, with Joffrey and Margaery's son set to be the new heir to Highgarden. (It should be noted that in the books, Loras has already joined the Kingsguard at this point, and that he has an older brother back at Highgarden who is already the Tyrell heir). Olenna accedes.

As Tyrion later says, "Loras will certainly come to know a deep and singular misery."


2. Margaery & Olenna Tyrell (Last Episode: 2) No Margarey this week, though Cersei gives her the charming moniker, "the little doe-eyed whore." Olenna, on the other hand, is just as fierce as ever, calling her grandson a "sword swallower through and through" and snapping Tywin Lannister's quill with equal aplomb. The showrunners have given her far more scenes than her character had in the books -- probably because Diana Rigg has been delivering such a crackling performance.


3. Daenerys Targaryen (Last Episode: 3) No Daenerys this week, though next week we will return to Slaver's Bay and get our first glimpse of the city of Yunkai.


4. Joffrey Baratheon (Last Episode: 4) Joffrey appears briefly near the end of this episode, but in fine form as the resident sadist of King's Landing. If you'd forgotten the lovely scene last season when our shithead king excitedly watched two whores torture each other, here's a reminder of Joffrey's kindness. Ros (poor Ros) is repaid for her betrayal of Littlefinger by being served up to Joffrey as a new amusement. We see her dead body hanging on the bed, pierced through the breast, crotch and head with arrows as Joffrey gazes enchantedly at her corpse. Gross.


5. Robb Stark (Last Episode: 5) The King of the North meets with envoys of the Freys, who demand a formal apology, Harrenhal and Edmure Tully's hand in marriage. Edmure wants the luxury of picking his bride, as Robb had, but he refuses, claiming that the laws of gods and men state that no one can force a man into marriage.

"The laws of my fist are about to compel your teeth," Blackfish tells him, reminding him of the disaster at the stone mill. Robb chimes in -- he's won every battle, but he's losing the war. Edmure's duty is clear.


Wildcards
These characters are important, but don't make it to the top five in our Power Rankings -- yet.


Theon Greyjoy Theon's torture keeps getting worse and worse. The creepy-looking kid who led him out of -- and back to -- his prison, played by Iwan Rheon, now seems to be his principle captor. He's at least as twisted as Joffrey. He bets that he can get Theon to beg him to cut off his finger -- and, with the help of a nasty little needle/blade, he succeeds. We still don't know who this sadistic freak is definitively. Theon incorrectly guessed that he was the son of all the major noble families in the North -- except the Boltons. And it increasingly looks like that's the only possibility.


Jon Snow Jon finds out early on this episode that his new gal pal Ygritte had suspected him of being a double agent for some time. She promises not to reveal his secret -- as long as he promises, now, to be loyal to her. He does. We'll see. In any case, the couple spends most of this episode rappelling. Only instead of redeeming a LivingSocial gift certificate at Brooklyn Boulders, they are scaling the Wall, which is 700 feet tall and made -- at least according to Sam -- all of ice. (He may have been exaggerating. In the books, the Wall is made of stone and magic, but is covered in a sheet of ice.) The climb gets dicey for a while, when an avalanche prompts one of the Wildlings to try to cut them loose. But Jon saves the day, allowing him and Ygritte to get all the way to the top, where they make out in view of lush CGI landscapes north and south of the Wall.


Samwell Tarly Sam's also heading south of the Wall with a Wildling woman, but his relationship with Gilly is considerably less steamy than Jon and Ygritte's. They mostly seem to walk slowly through the snow while Gilly accuses him of being rich and nurses her baby. Sam tries to impress her by showing her his cache of obsidian arrowheads, but she thinks their lack of apparent utility makes them worthless.


Bran Stark Not much new in Bran land. He's still heading toward the Wall with Osha, Hodor and the Reeds. (It seems like he's been traveling for ages, which is kinda weird because Winterfell's not that far? But I guess he can't walk, and they don't have horses.) Meera and Osha squabble over the proper way to skin a rabbit. Then Jojen has a seizure, which Meera explains is a sign that he's having a prophetic vision. When he wakes up, he tells Bran that Jon Snow is north of the Wall, "surrounded by enemies."


Arya Stark Arya's still being led through the Riverlands by the Brotherhood Without Banners. On their way to Riverrun, they encounter Melisandre, of all people. (How she sailed from Dragonstone and rode through the middle of Westeros in the company of an armed guard without being accosted by the Lannisters, the Boltons or the Starks remains a mystery. Magic?) She speaks in High Valyrian with her fellow red priest Thoros of Myr and demands that the Brotherhood give up Gendry, whom she recognizes as Robert Baratheon's bastard. Arya's furious that Beric and Thoros would give up their sworn brother for a bit of gold, but they insist that their actions are endorsed by R'hallor, the one true god. Still, Arya can tell that Melisandre intends nothing good for Gendry, so she calls the red priestess a witch. Melisandre grabs Arya by the head, looks into her eyes, and tells the young Stark girl that death and mystery lie ahead. Arya is shaken by the prophecy ... as are we.


Sansa Stark Sansa's really excited to marry Loras. She loves talking about fashion with him, though he seems dismayed that she can't tell the difference between a pin and a brooch. When Sansa tells Shae about her wedding plans, and how Loras loves green and gold brocade, Shae basically rolls her eyes, amused that Sansa doesn't seem to know that Loras is gay. (Much is made, throughout the episode, of the Tyrell heir's sexuality. Indeed, way too much to be plausible in the context of everything else we know about sexuality in Westeros, and way more than was ever made of it in the books.) Still, Sansa's devastated when Tyrion tells her he's being forced to marry her. Near the end of the episode, Sansa sobs while staring at Littlefinger's boat out in Blackwater Bay -- indicating that she now plans to follow him to the Vale after all ...


Petyr 'Littlefinger' Baelish ...which seems to have been Littlefinger's intention all along. One commenter on our Power Rankings last week guessed as much and Baelish essentially confirms it in his talk with Varys in the Red Keep this episode, when he says that his machinations foiled the eunuch's plans for Sansa. Littlefinger probably thinks that Sansa would never leave the dashing, kind and rich Loras for him -- but that she would gladly leave the ugly, kind and rich Tyrion for him. And he's probably right. If Littlefinger manages to abscond with Sansa before she marries Tyrion, and can convince her to marry him instead, he really will become one of the most powerful people in Westeros. He'll be perfectly positioned to climb the chaos ladder all the way to the 200-sword Iron Throne, the good of the realm be damned.


Cersei Lannister Cersei finally understands that she's powerless without the support of Tywin, Jaime or Joffrey. She can't think of a way to get out of her betrothal to Loras. And she even admits, in her conversation with Tyrion, that she wasn't the one who ordered him killed. Joffrey was.


Tyrion Lannister Tyrion's not particularly better off than Cersei. They're both stuck under their father's thumb. For now.


Brienne of Tarth & Jaime Lannister Brienne and Jaime are both out of sorts in Roose Bolton's Harrenhall. Brienne looks miserable being forced to wear a "pretty" red dress, while Jaime can't even cut his meat without Brienne's help. They both get a surprise when Bolton tells that, though Brienne has to stay in Harrenhall to pay for her treason, Jaime is free to go back to King's Landing, as long as he tells Tywin that Bolton isn't responsible for his missing hand. If that's not a sign of Bolton's lack of commitment to King Robb, what would be?

"Game of Thrones" airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.

]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.3177892 2013-05-02T14:41:28-04:00 2013-05-02T14:42:08-04:00

Amy Lee http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-lee/ Note: Do not read on if you have not seen Season 3, Episode 5 of HBO's "Game of Thrones," titled "Kissed By Fire."

"I always hated the politics." -- Ser Barristan Selmy

What happens when passion collides with politics? If the two forces come into conflict, which wins out? And how does the clash affect everyone watching it from the sidelines?

This week's exciting episode, "Kissed by Fire," presented the Westerosi with many of those questions. And they generally answered them the same way: Passion beats politics ... which often spells trouble for innocent (and not-so-innocent) bystanders. North of the Wall, Jon surrendered to his lust for Ygritte, defying his oath in the process. Loras Tyrell revealed his secret betrothal to Sansa Stark to a sexy male fling under Petyr Baelish's employ. And Robb Stark, most ominously, let his passion for justice override his desire for military supremacy. Only the characters with the most adamantine wills -- Littlefinger, Olenna, Tywin -- seem to be able to decide how to act without concern for their own momentary pleasure.

The Power Rankings
Using a complex algorithm that takes into account each player's wealth, military might and dominion over lands, along with a "bonus" factor that adjusts for unquantifiable assets that could influence events, we've surveyed the lay of the land to figure out who is winning the game of thrones after the fifth episode of season three of "Game of Thrones," entitled "Kissed By Fire."




1. Tywin Lannister (Last Episode: 1) In his one scene this episode, Tywin continued his habit of modeling excellent fatherhood. He sat his children down in his dark home office in the Red Keep and demanded that they marry nobles several decades younger than themselves, whom they don't love, who would present political advantages for the Lannister family. Tyrion is assigned to marry poor Sansa Stark, who will be the "key to the north" if Tywin can defeat her older brother Robb. This pleases Cersei plenty -- until she learns that Tywin wants her to marry Loras Tyrell, whose position as heir to Highgarden supersedes his homosexuality in Tywin's eyes. She's as upset as she is furious at being asked to marry for political gain again. But Tywin refuses to even acknowledge his children's complaints. "My children ... you've disgraced the Lannister name for far too long," he shouts. If these two marriages happen, the Lannisters will effectively control the entire country. Tywin's not nice, but he is smart.


2. Margaery & Olenna Tyrell (Last Episode: 2) Tyrion approaches the Queen of Thorns early this episode to ask the Tyrells to help pay for the "extravagant" royal wedding. At first, she feigns ignorance about financial matters. But when Tyrion presses his point, she suddenly reveals deep knowledge of the Tyrell contribution to the war effort: 12,000 infrantrymen, 1,800 mounted lances, "2,000 in support" (whatever that means), one million bushels of wheat, half a million bushels each of barley, oats and rye, 20,000 head of cattle and 50,000 sheep. Still, she agrees, eventually, to pay for half the wedding. She can afford it. But that doesn't stop Tywin from planning to foil her grand plan to marry Loras off to Sansa and secure Tyrell control of the north.


3. Daenerys Targaryen (Last Episode: 3) Dany's marching her fearsome army of eunuchs and dragons north -- toward the large slaver city of Yunkai, if a change in the opening credits is to be believed. As they ride, her increasingly devoted underlings get to talking. Sers Barristan Selmy and Jorah Mormont trade war stories and discuss the notion of loyalty. Selmy opines that both the kings he's served have been corrupt and selfish.

"I want to know what it's like to serve with pride. To fight for someone I believe in," he says. "Do you believe in her?" he asks Mormont, pointing toward Danaerys.

"With all my heart," Mormont responds.

Meanwhile, the Unsullied are electing their own officers from their ranks, at Dany's behest. When they present their chosen general to the Khaleesi, she's surprised to hear that they're all named after vermin. She urges them to pick new names that are less embarrassing. But Grey Worm, the new head of the Unsullied, touchingly refuses, explaining that he's proud to bear the name under which he was liberated by Danaerys Stormborn. Two episodes ago, Barristan Selmy expressed his misgivings about Dany leading a slave army into Westeros rather than an army of free men -- but that scene should quash any lingering reservations.


4. Joffrey Baratheon (Last Episode: 5) We don't see Joffrey this episode, but his position as King is strengthened by Tywin's machinations -- and the fracturing of the Northern army.


5. Robb Stark (Last Episode: 4) This was a truly disastrous episode for Robb. One of his chief vassals, Rickard Karstark, murders two young Lannister hostages as symbolic revenge for Jaime's killing of his sons. Robb orders everyone who helped kill them hanged -- except Lord Karstark. Robb emulates his father by swinging the blade to kill him himself. But not before Rickard accuses him of being a kinslayer, noting that Stark and Karstark have the same ancestors. "You are no king of mine," he says, moments before King Robb cuts his head off, while the ominous music that played as Theon decapitated Rodrik Cassel swells over the sound of the rain. At least Robb manages to execute Rickard with just one swing of his sword. But as a result, the Karstark forces desert him, heading back north to Karhold and halving his army. Robb, feeling cornered and outnumbered by the Lannisters, resolves to march toward the Twins to ask for reinforcements from the powerful Freys -- the people he betrayed by marrying Talisa.

Wildcards
These characters are important, but don't make it to the top five in our Power Rankings -- yet.


Brienne of Tarth & Jaime LannisterThis episode, brought to you by Lovers of Men's Bare Butts. But really -- Jaime, Jon, and Loras all pull down their pants this episode. Locke and his bandits hand over their captives to Roose Bolton, who gives Jaime to the once-maester Qyburn. Refusing anesthetic and refusing amputation, Jaime has his hand cauterized, screaming almost as loudly as he did when it was cut off. Jaime strips down and joins the already naked Brienne in the tub, in a scene that begins in a way that recalls "Cruel Intentions." After he provokes her into standing up, he tells her the story behind how he became the Kingslayer. It's a doozy. He speaks of the mad king, his obsession with burning anyone against him, his paranoia, his order that Jaime bring him Tywin's head, and how he stabbed Aerys in the back and slit his throat to make sure he was dead.

"Tell me, if your precious Renly commanded you to kill your own father and stand by while thousands of men, women and children were burned alive, would you have done it? Would you have kept your oath then?" he asks Brienne.

Ned Stark finds him there, and judges him as guilty. "By what right does the wolf judge the lion?" Jaime asks, before collapsing. Brienne calls out that the Kingslayer needs help --

"Jaime. My name is Jaime," he says.


Cersei Lannister Cersei commissions Lord Baelish to find out the Tyrell's intentions. But his success ends up being her downfall when she reveals their plot to her father. Because she's to be married off to Loras Tyrell, prompting her to shout, "I'm the Queen Regent, not a broodmare!" Important question: Would you rather be a broodmare or Tywin Lannister's daughter?


Tyrion Lannister This week's episode summary tells us that "Tyrion learns the cost of weddings." This is true, in more ways than one. Following an entertaining conversational tennis match with the Lady Olenna (who, in response to Tyrion's complaints about the costs of weddings, reels off the entire litany of the support the Tyrells are providing the crown). She reminds Tyrion that the common people, lacking distraction, will violently create their own, then dismisses the much-abused Tyrion as a "browbeaten bookkeeper." Tyrion continues on to a meeting with his father and sister where Tywin reveals that he's found out about the Tyrell's plot to secure Sansa (now Winterfell's heir), and his solution -- he's found her a new husband -- Tyrion.

"Joffrey has made this poor girl's life miserable since the day he took her father's head," he says. "Now she's finally free of him and you give her to me? That's cruel, even for you."

Tywin's not having it. This is Tyrion's reward, he says, for his battle service.


Sansa Stark Was there ever anyone as oblivious as Sansa Stark? It's hard being a tween, especially when your new best friend is marrying your psychotic ex-fiancee and your new secret fiancee is sleeping with (and gabbing to) squires. When Petyr asks her if she still wants to leave, she hedges.

"Your hair, it's different," he tells her. "Lady Margaery wears it that way."

She says she wants to wait before escaping King's Landing.

"I want you to know that I'm your friend," he tells her, a little creepily. "Your true friend." Only true friends, after all, mastermind your engagement to the kingdom's favorite disfigured dwarf.


Arya Stark Beric Dondarrion prepares for his duel with the Hound by slicing open his hand and lighting his sword on fire. Clegane, who hates fire, manages to kill Dondarrion, but he doesn't stay dead. "Burn in hell!" screams Arya. "He will but not today," answers the revived Dondarrion. Clegane is led off with a bag on his head, while Dondarrion affirms that in the eyes of his god, he is innocent. Besides, Dondarrion has died and returned six times already. He knows Arya is angry with him, but when she asks if they could bring a headless man back to life, he once again fails to give her the answer she seeks. Arya's Very Bad Day continues as Gendry informs her he'll be staying with the Brotherhood. He's had a taste of democracy now and even Arya's promise that she'll be his family isn't enough to sway him. Joffrey. Cersei. Ilyn Payne. Ser Meryn. The Hound. This is Arya's Christmas list of people she wants dead.


Jon Snow Our Lord Snow is forced to tell Tormund Giantsbane which of the Night's Watch castles are armed, and is warned that his guts will be pulled through his shirt should he be lying. Ygritte, ostensibly seeking to distract him from these worries, pulls Jon into a cave and promptly deflowers him, hitting orgasm while repeating, "You know nothing, Jon Snow." Steamy cave pool makeout sesh ensues. For those who find these scenes over-the-top, it should be noted that Jon and Ygritte's exchange is almost word-for-word faithful to the book's version of the tale (except that in the books, Ygritte has already told the other Wildlings that she and Jon are together.)


Petyr 'Littlefinger' Baelish Littlefinger deftly masterminds the marriage plot surrounding Sansa while seeming to remain less consequential than he is. Cersei seems to force Petyr to spy on the Tyrells for her, and he complies by sending Loras a frisky "squire" named Oliver. Littlefinger's rewarded with the knowledge that the Tyrells plan to marry Loras to Sansa (not actually possible, at this point, in the books for reasons we will leave unspoiled for non-readers). His information results in a new betrothal.


Stannis Baratheon We finally meet Stannis's actual wife, Selyse, whose deranged zealotry helps explain why Dragonstone seems so bleak and Stannis so stressed. Like Melisandre, Selyse is wholly devoted to the Lord of Light, to the point where she tells Stannis that she wept with joy when she heard that he'd "impregnated" his red priestess. Also, she keeps her three stillborn sons in big glass jars. (One of them is apparently named Edric -- a reference to a bastard of Robert Baratheon's in the books who was excised from the show.) She keeps her daughter in a cage as well, but for different reasons. Stannis visits that daughter, Shireen, who has a scaly rash across her face. When she asks about her friend Davos, her father tells her he's rotting in the dungeon.


Davos SeaworthStannis's brusque dismissal of Davos's fate can't stop Shireen from visiting her only friend. Stannis tells her she should leave, that he deserves the dungeon for having disobeyed her father. But she's brought him a book on Aegon, which forces him to confess his illiteracy. She promises she'll teach him. First lesson: Aeg sounds like Egg (a small nod to Martin's GoT prequel "Tales of Dunk and Egg").

"Game of Thrones" airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.

]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.3129026 2013-04-21T22:43:31-04:00 2013-04-23T18:28:09-04:00

Amy Lee http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-lee/ Note: Do not read on if you have not seen Season 3, Episode 4 of HBO's "Game of Thrones," titled "And Now His Watch Is Ended."

"He would see this country burn so he could be king of the ashes," -- Varys

In this episode, as in most, everyone's being played by someone, though some people are canny enough to realize what's going on. The situation seems even more desperate this week, as a mutilated Jaime enjoys more hospitality from his captors, everyone mills around King's Landing plotting furiously, the men of the Night's Watch become truly hangry, and Daenerys picks up an army of 8,000 castrated killing machines. All the drama makes this the best and most exciting episode so far this season. But that doesn't mean it's fun for the characters. Despite all the blood and glory, this week also reminds us that "shoveling shit really is most of it," as one disgruntled Westerosi puts it.

The Power Rankings
Using a complex algorithm that takes into account each player's wealth, military might and dominion over lands, along with a "bonus" factor that adjusts for unquantifiable assets that could influence events, we've surveyed the lay of the land to figure out who is winning the game of thrones after the fourth episode of season three of "Game of Thrones," entitled "And Now His Watch Is Ended."




1. Tywin Lannister (Last Episode: 1) As usual, Tywin is hunched over his desk busily signing important papers. We're treated to another charming display of his parenting skills, this time with daughter Cersei who receives Tywin's reassurance that he's doing what he can to get Jaime back. After batting away Cersei's concerns over Joffrey and Margaery's blooming love, Tywin tells her, "I don't distrust you because you're a woman. I distrust you because you're not as smart as you think you are." Apparently, Grandpa Lannister is aware that the king is a sadistic creep, and that Cersei's not exactly the most disciplined parent. But, as Cersei reminds him, it's not easy to keep Joffrey from "doing what he likes."


2. Margaery & Olenna Tyrell (Last Episode, without Olenna: 2) "He ate her while her son watched," Joffrey giggles to a seemingly rapt Margaery, who very convincingly tells him that his tour of the tombs is "just like taking a walk through history!" Appealing to his baser side, she tells him that "sometimes severity is the price we pay for greatness." He mulls that over with a villainous gleam in his eye before she basically double dares him to open the doors to the crowd. There's a moment where it seems like the rabble will rush in and trample dear Joffrey, but instead, they're calling out for Margaery. She's Evita meets Princess Diana meets Lady Macbeth. Later, she tries to pull little Sansa under her wing, even suggesting that she could marry Loras -- once Margaery is the queen. Margaery's cute joke about her bullying cousin (the punchline: she dies in agony as her face melts off) only reinforces the sense that for all her smiles and affirmations, Margaery's in it to win it.


3. Daenerys Targaryen (Last Episode: 5) Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen (which seems to be the proper way to refer to her, based on the number of times she's used it to refer to herself) is back setting cities to fire and wreaking vengeance on unsuspecting slaveowners who call her a bitch. Eight thousand Unsullied stand ready to be bought, as Daenerys takes Drogon out on a chain like a fire-spitting party balloon and hands him over. In return, she gets a whip. Revealing that she spoke Valyrian this entire time, she begins to command the army, as the slavemaster struggles with the recalcitrant dragon.

"A dragon is not a slave," she tells him, before she commands her new army to kill every soldier, whip-holder and non-child in the city.

"Kill her!" screams the slavemaster, who is promptly burned alive by Dracarys.

Later, standing in the dust and ash of the sacked Astapor, she frees her Unsullied, who choose to fight for her anyway. She promised to trade a dragon for an army of slaves and instead, walks away with 8,000 free troops without losing a single dragon. The shot of them streaming out of Astapor, martial music blaring, was the most stirring in the show since at least the "Blackwater" episode in Season 2.


4. Robb Stark (Last Episode: 4) No visit to the Stark camp this week, who last we saw, were grieving for the death of Lord Tully.


5. Joffrey Baratheon (Last Episode, with Cersei: 3) Despite being able to reel off every ghastly death and torture related factoid about the castle, Joffrey is another Lannister who isn't as smart as he thinks he is. This week, it's Margaery who's holding his strings, as Cersei glowers from a corner. She and Olenna Tyrell discuss the "ridiculous arrangement" that put men in charge of the realm, which does nothing to stop Margaery from trying to put herself in charge of Joffrey. She seems to be succeeding, which is why we're separating Cersei and Joffrey in our Power Rankings.

Wildcards
These characters are important, but don't make it to the top five in our Power Rankings -- yet.


Brienne of Tarth & Jaime Lannister Poor dyslexic Jaime is depressed! Because of his new handlessness. Without the ability to wield a sword, he feels like life has no purpose. (The fact that his captors tricked him into drinking a flask of equine urine, then kicked him into the mud, probably didn't help.) But Brienne, like any good life coach or personal trainer, wants him to snap out of it. "You have a taste -- one taste of the real world, where people have important things taken from them -- and you whine and cry and quit," she shouts. "You sound like a bloody woman!" Strange stance towards feminism perhaps, but just what Jaime needs to hear right now.


Cersei Lannister Cersei's lost most of her sway over Joffrey to Margaery, leaving her with significantly diminished resources. She appeals to her father Tywin for help in her struggle against Margaery and Olenna, but he's not interested in helping her. She's all alone.


Tyrion Lannister The Imp visits the eunuch in an attempt to get proof of his sister's attempt to kill him. Varys can't help him there, but he assures Tyrion that if he's patient, he'll eventually have enough sway to beat out his sister. "I am confident the revenge you seek will be yours in time," he says.


Varys In that same meeting with Tyrion, Varys also reveals how he became a eunuch. He was sold to a sorcerer, who sliced off his private parts to use in a magical ritual, which made Varys hate magic "and all those who practice it." But in an illustration of his belief that "influence grows like a weed," Varys cracks open a heavy wooden chest -- which contains that same sorcerer, who was shipped to King's Landing at his request for some kind of long-awaited, grisly revenge. Varys loves the long game. Another long game he's playing? Matchmaker to Sansa Stark. He wants to subvert Littlefinger's plans to marry her by striking an alliance with Olenna Tyrell -- because he considers Littlefinger "one of the most dangerous men in Westeros."


Sansa Stark Though Olenna and Varys don't think Sansa's a particularly interesting girl, they both agree that she had a "very interesting childhood" -- and that her beauty and famous name make her one of the most eligible bachelorettes in Westeros. They hatch a plan to marry Sansa off to the dashing Loras Tyrell, which would unite the power of Highgarden and Winterfell. (In the books, Loras had two older brothers, Garlan and Willas, and the Tyrell woman suggested that Sansa marry the latter, but it seems like Loras has taken over their duties.) When Margaery mentions the idea to Sansa, she seems excited. Lush, warm Highgarden would certainly be a welcome change after years under Cersei's thumb in King's Landing.


Arya Stark Thoros of Myr takes Arya, Gendry and Sandor Clegane to the Brotherhood Without Banners' subterranean headquarters with hoods on their heads and blackstrap rum in their hands. (Arya doesn't partake, but Gendry does.) When they enter, they discover that the leader of the ragtag group is none other than Lord Beric Dondarrion, who'd been dispatched to the Riverlands to arrest the Hound's brother Gregor Clegane, a.k.a. "The Mountain." Lord Dondarrion -- who's played, in case you don't recognize him, by a different actor than he was in the first season -- accuses The Hound of killing children. But Sandor denies it, blaming his brother and asking, "Is it a crime to be born a Clegane?" It seems like it's going to work until Arya speaks up and tells everyone how The Hound killed her friend Mycah, a defenseless boy. Beric Dondarrion challenges The Hound to trial by combat to answer for the crime.


Theon Greyjoy At the start of the episode, Theon's riding through the north with his nameless new fried, who claims to have grown up in the Iron Islands. They chat about fatherhood and loyalty a bit. Theon gets teary when talking about Ned Stark, whom he thinks of as his "real father." (It kind of seems like Alfie Allen is going after an Emmy with all this emoting, no?) But then Theon's guide picks a lock and leads him into a dark room in the castle, where Theon expects to find his sister -- and discovers, instead, the slanted crucifix/rack where he'd been tortured before. The guide's face transforms into a sadistic grin as he tells the other torturers to put Theon "back where he belongs." It was all some sort of strange trick. To what end, we're not yet sure. But Theon is surely in for a lot more pain.


Jon Snow No Jon this episode! He's assumedly on his way to the Wall with Tormund Giantsbane, Ygritte and a band of other Wildling raiders.


Samwell Tarly There was plenty of Jon's best friend Sam though, who's also north of the Wall. He watches as his sworn brothers, angry at Craster over the death of their friend Bannon, mutiny against Lord Commander Mormont, killing him and Craster in the process. Sam reacted fast to the carnage, running out of Craster's Keep to grab Gilly and her baby. They run out together. It's still a long walk back to the Wall -- and the night is dark and full of terrors. Namely, the Others and their army of zombified Night's Watchmen. And if they get past them, Gilly will face an even greater challenge: picking a name for her son.

"Game of Thrones" airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.



CORRECTION: This piece has been amended to correct several spelling errors.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.3081972 2013-04-15T01:10:53-04:00 2013-06-14T05:12:01-04:00

Amy Lee http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-lee/ Note: Do not read on if you have not seen Season 3, Episode 3 of HBO's "Game of Thrones," titled "Walk of Punishment."

"There's a beast in every man. And it stirs when you put a sword in his hand. But the Unsullied are not men." -- Jorah Mormont

The title of the third episode of Season 3 -- "Walk of Punishment" -- overtly refers to the seaside promenade Daenerys walks down in Astapor to see slaves who have been crucified for petty crimes. But several other characters take brutal strolls of their own. Robb makes it to Riverrun for a funeral and some bad news; Theon thinks he's riding to freedom at his sister's camp in Deepwood Motte; Jaime and Brienne are held captive by Roose Bolton's men and Arya and the Hound are led through the forest by the Brotherhood without Banners -- though Thoros of Myr says Arya, at least, is a "guest" rather than a prisoner.

Walking doesn't sound dramatic. In fact, though, this episode was much more exciting than the first two, which many fans thought were too slow. Here, the pace is quicker and the lines are more memorable. (Several were used in the trailer for the season, always a good sign.) Dany and Robb's plotlnes, in particular, got a bit more exciting after a couple slow weeks. Still, the action was more emotional than military or economic, so "Walk of Punishment" didn't shake up our weekly Power Rankings too much. Scroll down to see what happened.

The Power Rankings
Using a complex algorithm that takes into account each player's wealth, military might and dominion over lands, along with a "bonus" factor that adjusts for unquantifiable assets that could influence events, we've surveyed the lay of the land to figure out who is winning the game of thrones after the third episode of season three of "Game of Thrones," entitled "Walk of Punishment."




1. Tywin Lannister (Last Episode: 1) Tywin's position was encapsulated perfectly by his first scene this episode at the small council. He's moved the meeting from its traditional table off the Red Keep to a room off his own quarters in the Tower of the Hand, forcing everyone else near the top of the power ladder to come to talk on his terms. And he shows a firm, astute grasp of intra-Westerosi politics by sending Petyr Baelish to the Vale to try to bring Lysa Arryn onto the side of the Lannisters. That way, he explains, "The Young Wolf can add his own aunt to the list of people who have taken up arms against him." The Vale has remained neutral for the beginning of the War of the Five Kings, so this is a smart move.

That said, Tywin's neither omniscient nor omnipotent. Even though his small council "collectively controls more spies and informants than the rest of the world combined," they can't track down Jaime. So they have no idea that the heir to the Lannister fortune and name, one of the best swordsmen in the realm, got his right hand cut off by Roose Bolton's thugs at the end of this episode.


2. Margaery Tyrell (Last Episode: 2) Neither of the Tyrell ladies made an appearance this episode, but we have no reason to think they're doing anything but solidifying their position of strength in King's Landing.


3. Cersei & Joffrey Lannister (Last Episode: 4) No Joffrey, either. As for Cersei, we see her trying her hardest to insinuate herself with her father and trying to secure a spot at his (literal) right hand. These two didn't do much in this episode to deserve a promotion, but they did manage to avoid sliding backwards, unlike our new No. 4 ...


4. Robb Stark (Last Episode: 3) This episode opens on the Stark camp, which has moved to Catelyn's childhood home in Riverrun for her father Hoster Tully's funeral. That death, at old age, was neither surprising nor particularly sad (except perhaps for Catelyn). But Robb got more upsetting news upon arriving at his grandfather's castle, when he discovered that his uncle Edmure had foolishly attacked Gregor Clegane. Though his men won the battle, the fight dashed Robb's hopes of drawing Clegane into the west and killing him in a decisive victory. "I could have that head on a spike right now," Robb complains. "Instead I have a mill."

The essential problem, however, relates to what Jaime tells his jailer later in the episode. "The north can't win this war. We," he explains, referring to the Lannisters, "have the numbers. We have the gold." So when Tully loses 208 men in his fight against the Mountain, it matters. "We need our men more than Tywin needs his," Robb shouts.

On top of all this, Bran and Rickon are still nowhere to be found. "I will never see them again," Catelyn predicts in a conversation with her stalwart uncle, Brynden "Blackfish" Tully. But the Blackfish tells her she needs to be strong for her son. He's right. Winter is coming.


5. Daenerys Targaryen (Last Episode: 5) Walking along the Walk of Punishment by the sea in Astapor, Dany's most trusted advisors, Sers Barristan Selmy and Jorah Mormont, debate the merits of Dany buying an army of Unsullied eunuch slave soldiers for her invasion. Mormont describes it as a necessary evil, while Selmy argues that Dany should find soldiers who want to follow her into battle of their own free will rather than being bought, as her brother Rhaegar -- whom he calls "the last dragon" -- did. By the end of the conversation, Dany seems to indicate that she agrees with Jorah the Andal. Of Rhaegar, she says, "I wish I had known him. But he was not the last dragon."

At the meeting with Kraznys mo Nakloz, however, Daenerys shows that she's taken Jorah's advise far further than he intended when she offers to give up one of her dragons in exchange for all 8,000 of the Unsullied in Astapor -- plus all the children in training. This shocks Kraznys, Jorah and Barristan, and the latter make that clear in the meeting. "You will win the throne with dragons, not slaves," Selmy says. But Dany insists. Evidently, she's calculated that 8,000 fiercely trained warriors are worth more to her invasion than one partially-grown dragon. And when she walks away, she rebukes the two older men for their insolence in no uncertain terms. "You're both here to advise me," she says. "I value your advice. But if you ever question me in front of strangers again, you'll be advising someone else. Is that understood?"

She's still on the other side of the world. She still doesn't have any money or land. But there's no doubting that Daenerys Stormborn, of House Targaryen, has inside her what it takes to be queen.

Wildcards
These characters are important, but don't make it to the top five in our Power Rankings -- yet.


Brienne of Tarth & Jaime Lannister After riding back to back on a horse with each other, these two lovebirds seem closer than ever. But really -- Jaime puts his neck out farther than most Lannisters would for a non-Lannister, spinning the story that Brienne's father lives on an island made of sapphires and would appreciate if she were left "unbesmirched and undefiled." He pushes his hand too far, trying to sweet talk Vargo Hoat with promises of wealth and riches. Hoat responds by knocking Jaime to the ground and scraping his knife across his face.

"Your daddy ain't here," he says. Then he chops off Jaime's hand.


Theon GreyjoyA young man frees Theon from his torture machine, and after vomiting, he's put on a horse, supposedly to meet his sister. Instead, a group of men on horses ride Theon down and knock him from his horse. He hits the ground headfirst, and is summarily kicked and stripped before one of his assailants tells him, "I'm going to fuck you into the dirt." Luckily, his friend from the dungeons shoots everyone in the heart with an arrow and helps Theon up.


Stannis BaratheonMelisandre is off, but she doesn't know where to and she doesn't know why. Stannis, understandably, would prefer she stay. In fact, he would like her to birth another shadow assassin, to kill his enemies. She tells him his fires are "burning low," but assures him that he will get everything he's ever dreamed of if the right "sacrifices" are made.


Arya Stark She's a guest, not a prisoner, but the woods "aren't safe for Ned Stark's daughter," according to her new captors. Sadly, this episode marks the end of Hot Pie, who leaves Arya with a vaguely wolf-shaped cookie biscuit cake thing.


Jon Snow Frozen horse corpses spiral on the ground like an outtake from "Signs." It's the Others' artwork. Unfortunately, something's missing: 300 men of the Night's Watch, who are now likely killer ice-eyed wights. More bad news -- Mance Rayder is planning his attack of the Wall.


Tyrion Lannister Ah, the politics of chair placement. Tyrion has clearly decided to lean in this week. And it wins him the title of Master of Coin, replacing Littlefinger. Apparently, Tyrion is responsible for getting Roz out of Cersei's clutches. Littlefinger thanks him, and reminds him of his debt to Podrick (his life).

Tyrion delivers on Littlefinger's suggestion, and gifts Podrick a romp with three exotic prostitutes (one of whom, he boasts, is one of "four women in the world who can perform a proper Meereenese knot," a joking reference to a narratalogical problem George RR Martin encountered while writing "A Dance of Dragons"). Pod returns, rosy-cheeked, and with a purse of money. The girls wouldn't take his gold. (We're not sure why, but they seem to be trying to tell us that Podrick has crazy skills under the sheets ... Goofy? Weird?)


Petyr 'Littlefinger' Baelish "She has always been ... positively predisposed towards me," he says of Lysa Arryn, Catelyn's sister (also known as the woman who breastfeeds her eight year old, and Sansa's aunt). He's off to the Eyrie to court and win her hand for the crown. He later blithely hands off his job to Tyrion.

"You want a real challenge? Try whores," he suggests.



Samwell Tarly It's back to Craster's Keep for the MIB of Westeros, where things seem even more creepy and desolate than the last time (when Jon saw a baby sacrificed to "one of them"). Gilly, who was pregnant last we saw her, is giving birth. It's a boy, but nobody wants to tell her because Craster has no sons (only daughters he marries and impregnates). Meanwhile, Craster's stinginess is starving the Night's Watch, who are getting rowdy. He also briefly glimpses Ghost, Jon's direwolf.

"Game of Thrones" airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.

]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.3034377 2013-04-08T00:13:58-04:00 2013-06-07T05:12:01-04:00

Amy Lee http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-lee/ Note: Do not read on if you have not seen Season 3, Episode 2 of HBO's "Game of Thrones," titled "Dark Wings, Dark Words."

"Everyone hates the cave people." -- Mance Rayder

This week, in the second episode of Season 3, "Dark Wings, Dark Words," we visited some characters who were missing in last week's premiere, namely, Arya, Bran, Jaime and Brienne, and Theon (eek!). This week's episode was less about brute power than it was about the subtleties of influence. Some players were skilled manipulators, while others remained oblivious to the way the current runs.

Read on to see how the power rankings stand this week.

The Power Rankings
Using a complex algorithm that takes into account each player's wealth, military might and dominion over lands, along with a "bonus" factor that adjusts for unquantifiable assets that could influence events, we've surveyed the lay of the land to figure out who is winning the game of thrones after the second episode of season three of "Game of Thrones," entitled "Dark Wings, Dark Words."






1. Tywin Lannister (Last Episode: 1) No Tywin this week, though Tyrion seems pretty convinced of his threat to kill his whore. He's probably busy running the Seven Kingdoms.


2. Margaery Tyrell (Last Episode: 3) We see where Margaery gets her gumption when we meet her grandmother, Olenna, who is feistier than Arya and more cutting than Cersei (her take on Renly: "Gallant, charming and very clean"). Olenna and Margaery manage to get Sansa to admit her feelings about who Joffrey really is. She calls him a monster, recalling the story of how he forced her to look at her dead father's head after promising he would spare his life. Margaery later uses the information to charm Joffrey by indulging his violent side, proving that her harlot dresses are working in her favor.


3. Robb Stark (Last Episode: 2) It's not the best week for the "the king of the grim bearded stinking barbarians" (as Talia dubs him). Roose Bolton shows up with two envelopes -- one from Riverrun and one from Winterfell. The bad news? Catelyn's father is dead. The worse news? Everyone at Winterfell was massacred, the castle's been burnt down, and no one's seen Bran or Rickon.

"You don't think we can win," Robb tells one of his followers, during a grim conversation that's still less grim than Catelyn's dark confession of having hated Jon Snow. She prayed for his death, he caught the pox, she felt guilty, so she prayed for him to live, promising that she'd try to love him if he lived. He lived, she didn't keep her promise, and now three of her children are missing.


4. Cersei & Joffrey Lannister (Last Episode: 4) Joffrey, the angsty teen dream/sadistic ruler of the Seven Kingdoms, is getting more and more defiant every day. While getting fitted for some shiny clothes, Joffrey ignores his mother's warnings about Margaery's cunning ("She dresses like a harlot for a reason!"), and her point that Margaery had married a traitor (Renly).

His response: "That's what intelligent women do. What they're told."

Still, he seems to remember the warning later when Margaery shows up while he's holding a two-foot crossbow in his hands. He grills her about her time spent in the "bed of a traitor," but Margaery manages to convince him that Renly (the little tulip) was gay by telling Joffrey that Renly wanted to do something that sounded "very painful and couldn't possibly result in children." He goes back to flirting by showing her how to shoot his crossbow -- and Margaery is more than game.

"Do you want to hold it?" he asks.
"May I, please!" she replies.

Then she asks him if he'd like to watch her kill something, which gets him a little too excited. Margaery: 1. Cersei: 0.


5. Daenerys Targaryen (Last Episode: 5) No Daenerys this week. We assume she's playing with the dragons, and taking pleasant walks in beautiful Astapor.






Wildcards
These characters are important, but don't make it to the top five in our Power Rankings -- yet.


Bran Stark The return of Bran this season may be pop culture's best illustration of the power of puberty since "The Prisoner of Azkaban." Isaac Hempstead Wright, who plays him, has shot up about six inches in stature and down a couple octaves in vocal range since the end of Season 2. His cheeks have hollowed out and his eyebrows have thickened. That's not the only change, though: In this episode, Bran makes a new friend, Jojen Reed, who's played by Thomas Brodie-Singer of "Love Actually" fame. (Another exemplar of the impact of hormones.) Jojen and his fierce sister Meera meet up with Bran, Hodor, Osha and Rickon in the heath north of Winterfell, having traveled from their home castle of Greywater Watch in the Neck, hundreds of miles south. Jojen validates Bran's belief in old, occult forces, showing him that if he harnesses his prescient dreams, he could be hugely influential.


Arya Stark This episode, fan favorite Arya and her buddies Gendry and Hot Pie discover that their escape from Harrenhall -- facilitated by the Faceless Man Jaqen H'ghar -- didn't exactly lead to the promised land. They're wandering aimlessly through the war-torn Riverlands, without money or directions to Riverrun, where Arya knows she can get help from her grandfather Hoster Tully. While walking through the woods, Gendry needles Arya about her (vaguely implausible) decision to ask Jaqen to kill several random figures rather than blood enemies, such as King Joffrey or Tywin Lannister, one of several in-jokes at the books' expense in the first few episodes. But the joking comes to an abrupt end when the band of fugitives encounters the ragtag Brotherhood Without Banners, led by the redheaded Thoros of Myr, a knife with Falstaff's love of wine and Hotspur's prowess in battle. The Brotherhood takes them to the Inn at the Crossroads -- along, soon afterwards, with Sandor Clegane, the Hound, who instantly recognizes Arya. Uh-oh.


Sansa Stark This episode, Sansa meets the formidable, endlessly fascinating Olenna Tyrell (Diana Rigg), one of the most charming characters on the show. She bristles with energy and Sansa, in her presence ... melts. She's too scared and dim to keep up with the Dowager Lady of Highgarden. But she's not completely cowed. After Olenna dismisses her servants, leaving her alone with Margaery and Sansa, the latter admits that Joffrey is a "monster," a daring admission after months of diplomatic smiles.


Jon Snow Jon goes in deeper with the Wildlings this episode. He meets his first "warg" -- basically a New Age-y Animorph -- Orell, who can inhabit the body of an eagle the way Bran can inhabit his direwolf. But other than that, there's not much movement here.


Brienne of Tarth & Jaime Lannister These two fine swordsmen are rapidly gaining on Bronn and Tyrion as the best buddy-comedy pair in the series, with Brienne's seriousness playing off Jaime's jocularity to great effect. Too bad they got caught by Roose Bolton's "best hunter" at the end of the episode.


Tyrion Lannister Very little Tyrion this episode. (No pun intended!) Shae jealously, semi-jokingly confronts him about his past relations with Roz the Redhead. We're bored.


Theon Greyjoy Theon's screwed. (Pun intended!) He's strapped to a sort of slanted crucifix while vile torturers of vague extraction drill screws into his feet. He screams in pain and delivers semi-false confessions. It's all sort of like the opposite of "Zero Dark Thirty," and would be vicious to watch had Theon not so wantonly betrayed the Starks.


"Game of Thrones" airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.

]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2990206 2013-03-31T23:10:34-04:00 2013-05-31T05:12:01-04:00

Amy Lee http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-lee/ Note: Do not read on if you have not seen Season 3, Episode 1 of HBO's "Game of Thrones," titled "Valar Dohaeris."

"Big men fall just as quick as little ones, if you put a sword through their hearts." -- Jon Snow

"Game of Thrones" finally returned last night after 10 long months of silence. And with it, HuffPost TV's weekly "Game of Thrones" Power Ranking, brought to you by certified ASOIAF nerds Amy Lee and Joe Satran. In case you missed this recap series last season, we'll be writing a post every week after the episode airs in which we explain how the events of the previous nights episode affected the balance of power in Westeros. In the world of George R.R. Martin's series, power can change hands in a moment's notice, so you always have to be vigilant.

Season 3 picks up immediately after the end of Season 2: North of the Wall, with Samwell Tarly witnessing an attack on the Night's Watch camp at the Fist of the First Men by the Others. The rest of the episode involved a lot of scene-setting and recapping. We aren't griping -- it was delicious scene-setting and recapping -- but there wasn't all that much action. We were mostly seeing the after-effects of the startlingly dramatic final two episodes of the second season.

Still, the wheel of power never stops turning. So scroll down to see where the pieces sit on the board after this week's episode.

The Power Rankings
Using a complex algorithm that takes into account each player's wealth, military might and dominion over lands, along with a "bonus" factor that adjusts for unquantifiable assets that could influence events, we've surveyed the lay of the land to figure out who is winning the game of thrones at the end of the Season 3 premiere, "Valar Dohaeris."




1. Tywin Lannister (End of Season 2: 1) This episode, Tywin Lannister, the richest man in Westeros, showed that he intends to use every last ounce of the power granted to him by his position as Hand of the King. He takes the job even more seriously than his son Tyrion did last season, wielding his quill and ink with even more assurance that his son Jaime wields a sword. At this point, it's hard to tell how Tywin's harsh on-screen demeanor will translate into policy, or how his reign will affect laypeople or "the realm." But Lord Lannister's severity and imperiousness has already taken a toll on his family. Tywin doesn't visit his son Tyrion after the Battle of the Blackwater, even though Tyrion was severely wounded by his sister Cersei's lackey. So the Imp goes to visit him. Tyrion asks to be made heir to the family castle, noting that his older brother Jaime's position in the Kingsguard precludes him from inheriting lands. In an echo of Stannis's proclamation to his brother Renly at the beginning of Season 2, he says, "It is mine, by right." However, Tywin makes his own justice. Tyrion's injury and crucial role in the defense of King's Landing haven't convinced Tywin that his son deserves respect, or even pity. So Tywin rebuffs his own pathetic son. "Neither gods nor men will ever compel me to let you turn Casterly Rock into your whorehouse," he says. It's hard to think of a better definition of power than the ability to defy the law's of gods and men with impunity. Joffrey may sit on the Iron Throne, but it's his grandfather Tywin who rules the country with an iron fist.


2. Robb Stark (End of Season 2: 2) We don't see a great deal of Robb this episode -- just one sequence in Harrenhal -- but his position hasn't changed drastically from the end of Season 2. He's still undefeated in battle, but he also still has less gold and fewer troops than his Lannister enemies. There are also signs of growing discontent among his supporters. He sees Rickard Karstark and Roose Bolton, two of his foremost bannermen, whispering and glowering in his direction, prompting him to send his mother Catelyn (who released their prisoner Jaime against his will) to a cell in the castle.


3. Margaery Tyrell (End of Season 2: 3) Margaery proved right away that she plans to be a far more forceful fiancee to Joffrey than Sansa ever was. But she doesn't fight the Lions on their own terms by opposing their plans. Her form of resistance (unlike, say, Ned Stark's) isn't that overt. Instead, she casts herself into an appealing alternative to the Lannister hegemony. She bravely goes out into the city slums to conduct charity work in a bid to win popular support. And, as Cersei notes several times, she wears revealing clothing, showcasing her young supple body, in an attempt to lure Joffrey away from his mother and grandfather. But make no mistake: Her apparent gentleness is always backed up by military force and wealth. And she never lets the Lannisters forget it. At dinner, she slyly notes, "One hundred wagons arrive daily from the Reach carrying food. We've had a blessed harvest. But it's our duty to help the capital in a time of need." The Tyrells, unlike the Starks and Lannisters, have never been kings or queens -- their noble lineage extends back only as far as the Targaryen invasion 300 years before the show takes place, making them arrivistes in the Red Keep. But Margaery's talents could well change that before the series is done.


4. Cersei & Joffrey Lannister (End of Season 2: 4) Cersei is obviously threatened by Margaery, and rightly so. She's charming, sweet and personable where Cersei is hard and calculating. And Joffrey shows, at dinner with Cersei and Joffrey, that his allegiance is already starting to shift to his betrothed. But in the world of "Game of Thrones," kindness rarely beats brutality. Cersei and Joffrey are both brutal, and they both have access to tremendous reserves of soldiers and money. So if either of them should decide to go on the offensive, there's no guarantee that all the popular support or charm in the world would stop them.


5. Daenerys Targaryen (End of Season 2: --) In the last 10 minutes of Season 2, Dany showed some real fierceness when she invaded Xaro Xhoan Daxos's home, locked him in a vault and stole his gold to buy a ship to Astapor. But after the rough transition from Season 1 to Season 2 -- from dragons to the desert -- we weren't willing to grant her a place in the Power Rankings quite yet. But in the Season 3 premiere, she started to deliver on her promise. Her dragons have gotten (slightly) bigger. She landed in Astapor and contemplated buying a supernaturally obedient army of eunuch slave soldiers, The Unsullied -- and she gained the support of Ser Barristan Selmy, one of the greatest fighters in the world, whom we haven't seen since he was unceremoniously fired by Cersei at the end of the first season. She's still very far from Westeros, she still has little money and no land, but there's no doubting that Daenerys has the most room to grow of anyone on the list.


Wildcards
These characters are important, but don't make it to the top five in our Power Rankings -- yet.


Tyrion Lannister
Poor Tyrion. After playing a decisive role in the battle to defend King's Landing, Tyrion is short an ear, half a nose, and his position as Hand of the King. Now ensconced in a homely little room, Tyrion entertains his sister Cersei as she simultaneously gloats and prods Tyrion to reveal why he's going to see their father. Later, Tyrion visits Tywin, who reprimands him for spending his time "bedding harlots and drinking with thieves" instead of doing his job. After Tyrion complains that no one cared about his wounds or his efforts, Tywin rebuffs him. "Jugglers or singers require applause. You are a Lannister," he says.

Tyrion takes a different tack -- he wants his place as the rightful heir to Casterly Rock (which Jaime, as a member of the Kingsguard, cannot inherit).

"I would let myself be consumed by maggots before mocking the family name and making you heir to Casterly Rock," Tywin tells him.

"Why?" Tyrion asks.

"Why? You ask that, you who killed your mother to come into the world? You are an ill-made, spiteful little creature full of envy, lust and low cunning. Men's laws give you the right to bear my name and display my colors, since I cannot prove that you are not mine. And to teach me humility, the gods have condemned me to watch you waddle about, wearing the proud lion that was my father's sigil, and his father's sigil before him. But neither gods nor men will ever compel me to turn Casterly Rock into your whorehouse," Tywin answers.

Ouch.


Sansa Stark
The good news is that Sansa is no longer engaged to Joffrey. The bad news is that she's still in King's Landing and the best defense she has at the moment is Tyrion's favorite whore. It seems she may have one more friend -- Petyr Baelish, whose unrequited love for Sansa's mother is well-known across the kingdom. He tells her he's seen her mother and sister, and that he has a plan to help her escape from King's Landing. She's enthusiastically on board, but her handmaiden Shae is less than convinced of Littlefinger's good intentions; Sansa is getting to look quite like her mother did at her age.

"The truth is either terrible or boring," Sansa says at one point. In Westeros at the moment, we'd say it's more terrible than boring.


Petyr 'Littlefinger' Baelish

Petyr is hoping to go on an assignment that will take him "far away" from the capitol. And if he does, he'll (try) to take Sansa with him.


Jon Snow
When we left off, Jon had just killed Quorin Halfhand, his brother in black. It's enough to convince the Wildlings -- or Ygritte at least -- that he's an ally, not an enemy. He's brought to meet Mance Rayder, the "King Beyond-the-Wall," but when he kneels to offer a courtly "Your Grace," the tent erupts in giggles. He's been kneeling to the wrong man. The real Rayder steps forward (a grizzled-up Ciaran Hinds), exuding warm charisma and a deceptively friendly face. But he's no fool. He presses Jon to give his reason for leaving his brothers for this band of outlaws.

"I want to be free," Jon says. Rayder contradicts him. "I think you want to be a hero," he says.

But Jon finds a better reason -- he tells the story of what happened at Craster's Keep (a baby boy is left in the woods as sacrifice to "one of them" -- a habit of which the Lord Commander is well aware). "I want to fight on the side of the living," he says. Rayder is convinced.


Samwell Tarly
The army of Others we saw at the end of the Season 2 finale didn't spot Sam from shivering behind his rock, but a lone wight wielding a frozen battle-axe lunges towards him -- when Ghost comes out of the snow and drags the creature back. Sam reunites with the Night's Watch, only to be chewed out by the Lord Commander for failing to send the ravens, which was his only job.


Stannis Baratheon
One minute you're ravaging the enemy's confused forces, with dreams of the Iron Throne swirling through your brain, and the next, you're sulking in a stone chair by the sea. Melisandre has convinced Stannis that if she had been in Blackwater Bay, she would have stopped the fire and he would now be king. But Davos convinced him to leave her behind. So when Davos shows up, Stannis is less than enthused.


Davos Seaworth
Davos might be one of the luckiest guys in Westeros. While everyone else is dying all over the place, Davos falls into a burning ocean and manages to wash up on a rock with injuries on par with a bad sunburn. A boat spots him flailing on said rock and, fortunately for Davos, it's Salladhor Saan, his pirate friend. But Saan is done with war. He tells Davos that Stannis has withdrawn into his room, while Melisandre burns unbelievers in the name of her god. Davos insists that he must go to Dragonstone, regardless.

"When you're dead. I'll gather your bones in a little sack and let your widow wear them around her neck," Saan tells him.

But when he finally returns to Stannis, Melisandre is beside him. With a well-timed jab about his dead son (he lost two in the Battle of Blackwater), she provokes Davos into attacking her, earning him a one-way ticket to the dungeons.

"Game of Thrones" airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.

]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/thenewswire//2.826786 2013-01-26T17:32:19-05:00 2013-01-26T17:32:21-05:00

Amy Lee http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-lee/
Square is just one of a number of companies trying to get in on the emerging mobile payments market and their announcement highlights the growing competition among a stable of rivals large and small that are vying to get a major foothold.

The change means that merchants using Square for credit card payments will pay only one 2.75% fee for charges, rather than both a percentage fee and an additional fixed cost. They also hope the move will provide greater transparency in an industry that can often have labyrinthine pricing structures.

Dropping the extra fee lets Square square off with competitors like Intuit's GoPayment and Verifone's Payware mobile, which charge 15 and 17 cents per transaction, respectively, and, Square hopes, will assist it in wooing smaller sellers.

"Dropping 15 cents may not sound like a lot," said Gwenn Bezard, research director at the Aite Group. "But when you're a small business, every dime counts."

Square is angling for an in with small merchants, such as the sellers at farmer's markets, that have typically relied on cash payments because of the expense of fees, or the hassle of getting through red tape. Square does not require a credit check for merchants who want to begin accepting credit cards, and is free to try, so that businesses can watch to see if their sales go up or down after beginning to use the service.

"There are 7 million businesses that accept Visa or Mastercard," said Keith Rabois, Square's COO. "We believe there are 26 million or more that don't accept credit cards at all--we're enabling people to become successful entrepreneurs."

While the company hopes to woo small businesses and entrepreneurs that feel the pinch from each extra payment, Square's elimination of the 15 cent fee may belie the squeeze of the competition.

"Square's starting to feel some of the pressure from the competitors--it means [mobile payments] is a real market and not just sitting in someone's closet," said Aaron McPherson, a practice analyst at IDC Financial Insights.

In addition to eliminating its fixed fee, Square recently kicked off an ad blitz that included large billboards in New York's Times Square.

Some analysts see Square's move as an attempt to face off with the more established forces of Intuit and Verifone, their main competitors in the mobile payments field.

"Square had an early advantage based on the buzz they were able to create," McPherson explained. "In the long run this is going to be a tough market--they're up against some very large entrenched competitors."

So will dropping 15 cents pave Square's path to success? They have gotten monumental buzz, partly due to the name recognition of co-founder Jack Dorsey, who helped start Twitter, and are competing in a field where no clear winner yet exists. But they will have to overcome the forces of a company like Intuit, who already have an in with businesses through their QuickBooks services.

Square recently completed a $27.5 million funding round, bringing its valuation to $240 million. Not only that, but Square has seen their growth rise from 30,000 to 50,000 signups per month in December, and is on pace for over 100,000 new signups in February.

"No one is really well established with mobile payments--it's an emerging market," said Bezard.

Watch Square's short video explaining the benefits of their system below:


]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1566873 2012-06-04T13:36:33-04:00 2012-08-04T05:12:12-04:00

Amy Lee http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-lee/ Note: Do not read on if you have not seen the tenth, final episode of Season 2 of HBO's "Game of Thrones," entitled "Valar Morghulis."

Weddings and war victories are no cause for celebration in Westeros, no more than murders and massacres are.

After the dust has settled, the pieces have shifted. One of the five kings is dead, while the others plot to kill their enemies. And though some, like Tyrion and Theon, find themselves worse off than before, no one is safe.

All men must die. And all seasons must end. Season 2 has been a wild, glorious ride. And what happens next is anyone's guess. But that won't stop us from taking a look at the state of affairs at the end of Season 2.

The Power Rankings
Using a complex algorithm that takes into account each player's wealth, military might and dominion over lands, along with a "bonus" factor that adjusts for unquantifiable assets that could influence events, we've surveyed the lay of the land to figure out who won the game of thrones at the end of Season 2.



1. Tywin Lannister
Tywin started this season at the top of our Power Rankings along with his son Tyrion. He's finishing it at the top as well -- only this time, he's alone. His personal arrogance is front and center when he rides into the Red Keep on his white horse after it defecates on the ground. And then that arrogance is borne out by an official title when Joffrey officially proclaims his grandfather "Savior of the City and Hand of the King." Along the way, Tywin strips his battle-wounded son Tyrion of the power and glory he had carefully gained for himself throughout this season. Talk about an overbearing father!

2. Robb & Catelyn Stark
Robb, on the other hand, demonstrates the benefits of having a dead father this episode, when he does what Ned Stark never would have done: marries a woman for love instead of political gain. Catelyn is upset, and tries to stop him, noting that, "Walder Frey is a dangerous man to cross." But Robb won't be dissuaded. And the scene in which he and Talisa of Volantis marry is one of the most tender of the season. (Though it probably isn't faithful to the books: As a Stark, Robb should have consecrated his marriage to the Old Gods, not the Seven, even though his mother believes in the latter.) Next season, Robb will almost certainly clash with the Lannisters. And he won't be happy to learn that his ancestral home in Winterfell has been burned to a crisp. But for now, he shows that he has the power to determine and pursue his own fate, which is the greatest of luxuries in Westeros.

3. Margaery Tyrell
Tywin may get the most from Joffrey's momentous post-battle court session. But Margaery comes in a close second. Thanks to her family's support of the Lannisters in the Battle of Blackwater Bay, she's on the verge of fulfilling her dream of being "the Queen." It's not clear yet what she'll do from that lofty position. But her courtly speech to Joffrey shows that she's as good a liar as anyone in King's Landing. Don't underestimate Margaery -- or any other Tyrell, for that matter.

4. Joffrey & Cersei Lannister
Urged by his Small Council and given permission by the Gods, Joffrey sets aside Sansa to betroth himself to the scheming Margaery Tyrell, as Cersei smiles. Tyrell power will prop up the Shithead King for a while longer, despite all the odds. Cersei's manages to get Tyrion and Sansa disposed of, but whether she'll outmaneuver her father is yet to be seen.

5. Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish
Harrenhal passes to another master -- Littlefinger, for his assistance in bringing the aid of House Tyrell to King's Landing. It will pass to his sons, and grandsons, should he manage to have them. That alone makes him one of the strongest lords in the land. But Littlefinger's high standing in the eyes of the Lannisters may wind up being even more significant. Elsewhere, Varys pays a visit to Roz, who doesn't realize who he is until she gropes his thighs and what lies between, only to discover there's nothing there. He'd like her to join his side, as a partner, not a whore.

Wildcards

Daenarys Targaryen
In the House of the Undying, Daenerys is tempted by visions of the future and past, including a snow-covered Iron Throne, and a hale and healthy Khal Drogo toting their now-living baby. She manages to overcome these lures and makes it to her dragons, only to find herself chained up -- where she'll remain forever. But her babies do more than cry and shriek. On her tacit command, they burn the enemy to his death, just before they visit Xaro Xhoan Daxos and shut him up in his own vaults with her former bedslave to die. Her men loot his home for gold -- enough, perhaps, to buy a ship.

Theon Greyjoy
As Theon and his 20 men sit surrounded by 500 men blowing horns and ready to attack. The Maester tells him to run away and join the Night's Watch, where his past crimes will be forgiven -- but he can't do it.

"I've done a lot, haven't I?" Theon ask. "Things I never imagined myself doing." Instead, a crazy light enters his eyes, and like Tyrion did last week, Theon takes the stage to deliver a rousing speech -- only to have one of his men knock him out from behind so that the 500 men surrounding Winterfell may burn it to the ground without impediment.

Sansa Stark
When her engagement's broken, Sansa thinks she'll get to leave him. But Littlefinger stops her -- Joffrey will still beat her and rape her, and he won't send her away. Petyr promises he'll get her home -- for her mother's sake. She unconvincingly protests that King's Landing, not Winterfell, is her home.

"Look around you," Littlefinger replies. "We're all liars here. And every one of us is better than you."

Arya Stark
Jaqen H'ghar has caught up with the runaways. He offers Arya the chance to come with him to Braavos, where she can learn to be a Faceless Man so that she might kill off everyone on the litany of names she recites each night. She declines -- and so he gives her a coin, with instruction. If she ever changes her mind, all she has to do is give the coin to a man from Braavos and say these words: "Valar Morghulis."

Then he leaves. And when he turns back to look at Arya on his way out, he is a different man, with a different face. If Arya can apply that sort of power to her hereditary position as a Stark, there's no telling how far she'd be able to rise.

Bran Stark
As they emerge from the smoking refuse of his childhood home, Bran, Rickon, Osha and Hodor come upon the Maester, bleeding out on a weirwood. He sends them north, and then asks Osha to end his life, quickly. The four of them, and the direwolves, make their way away from the wreckage.

Jon Snow
As they trudge across the blasted ice, Qhorin Halfhand instigates a vicious duel with Jon, as the Wildlings watch. He goes from the defensive to the offensive when the Halfhand insults his mother, killing him with a sword to the gut. "We are the watchers of the Wall," Qhorin whispers as he dies. But his ploy's worked. Jon will meet Mance Rayder as a freeman, not as a man of the Night's Watch.

Elsewhere in the North, a wind picks up and Samwell is abandoned by his two companions to cower behind a rock. As he cowers, he watches a horde of Others -- ice creatures with glowing blue eyes -- pass by, leading an army of zombie-like Wights to battle against the Night's Watch.

Tyrion Lannister
His face is scarred, his position as hand stripped, and his contributions to the success at Blackwater unrecognized. Varys visits him to tell him that Cersei ordered Ser Mandon Moore to kill him. Tyrion calls for Bronn, but the City Watch is no longer his.

"I thought we were friends," Tyrion says.
"We are," Varys replies, revealing Shae at the door.

She proclaims her love for Tyrion and urges him to come with her to Pentos and leave behind the bad people, his family. But those bad people are what he's good at, he says: "Outtalking them, outthinking them. I like it. I like it more than anything I've ever done."

Jaime Lannister
Brienne and Jaime come across three women hanging between the trees when the Northern bannermen who killed them return and mock Brienne for her gender. But when one of them recognizes the Kingslayer, she dispatches two with a few swift, brutal thrusts and plunges. She gives the third the slow death he himself gave one of the dead girls.



Differences from the Book
All in all, the second season deviated surprisingly far from the "Song of Ice and Fire" book upon which it was based, "A Clash of Kings." It covered the same basic terrain, of course -- the series' plotting is too intricate to change anything huge and remain on track. But unlike the extremely faithful Season 1, it took a different path to get from point A to point B. There are fewer prophecies, for example, in the TV show than there are in the books. It will be interesting to see how the tweaks translate into plot shifts down the road. Here are the changes we noticed this episode; comment if you found others!

• Robb does not seek his mother's council when he's deciding whether or not to marry in the books. The wedding also isn't shown.


• Stannis never confesses directly to Renly's murder in the books.


• The sequence of events that leads to Ramsay Snow's capture of Winterfell is slightly different in the books.


• The scene at the House of the Undying is very different in the books. The building is in the middle of a desert, not on a wooded hill. It's low-slung, not a tower. And Daenarys walks in accompanied by Pyat Pree; he gives her advice as to how to proceed. Her visions are different in the books. And then, most importantly, her final encounter is with a group of mysterious warlocks known as the Undying! Not just with silly Pyat Pree.


• Jaqen H'ghar is much more explicit in his description of the Faceless Men in the show than he is in the books.


• In the books, Bran and Rickon have no intention of going to the Wall when they head north.


• Qhorin's death is different in "A Clash of King's," but that's a product of the changes in the Jon Snow-Ygritte story.


• The whole scene in which Dany confronts Xaro Xhoan Daxos is new. She never takes his gold in the books.

That's it for now, folks! But make sure to check back in 2013 for our continuation of the "Game of Thrones" Power Rankings in Season 3. And in the meantime, comment up a storm with your thoughts on who won Season 2.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1552127 2012-05-29T13:36:32-04:00 2012-07-29T05:12:04-04:00

Amy Lee http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-lee/ Note: Do not read on if you have not seen Season 2, Episode 9 of HBO's "Game of Thrones," entitled "Blackwater."

"The gods have no mercy. That's why they're gods." -- Cersei Lannister

Question: How do you cross a sea of burning green flames?

Answer: You don't. You burn, and you die.

There's carnage aplenty in the penultimate episode of "Game of Thrones" Season 2, "Blackwater," but, as always, the deals done in back rooms and the secret schemes are what come to matter when the battle arrives.

Two kings ride to battle, but while one scales the walls with a sword in hand, the other can't bear to see any battle at all. Guess which one wins.

The Power Rankings
Using a complex algorithm that takes into account each player's wealth, military might and dominion over lands, along with a "bonus" factor that adjusts for unquantifiable assets that could influence events, we've surveyed the lay of the land to figure out who's winning the game of thrones at this point of Season 2.



1. Tyrion & Tywin Lannister
"Blackwater" is the Lannisters' episode -- and above all, Tyrion's. Though Tywin ultimately rides in to save the day, it's Tyrion's deft strategizing that wins this battle. Between the Wildfyre ruse and the attack-from-behind Varys' map enables, Stannis is outplanned and ultimately, outmatched.

Tyrion and Joffrey squabble before the fighting starts, with Joffrey threatening to have the Hound cut Tyrion in half; but it's when the blood starts to flow that their mettle is proved. Bronn launches a burning arrow into the ocean, and like napalm, it ignites into electric green, destroying a good portion of Stannis' fleet. Then, while Joffrey quivers and quails, Tyrion takes charge, issuing orders and, when Joffrey flees to hide in his mother's skirts, Tyrion volunteers to lead the army. The men begin to scatter, but the imp delivers a rousing speech ready to rally them.

"They say I'm half a man. But what does that make the lot of you?" he begins. "Don't fight for your king and don't fight for his kingdoms. Don't fight for honor, don't fight for glory and don't fight for riches because you won't get any. This is your city Stannis means to sack ... if he gets in, it'll be your houses he burns, your gold he'll steal, your women he'll rape. These are brave men knocking at our door. Let's go kill them!"

Bravery: 0. Self-interest: 1. But once he gets out into battle, Ser Mandon, one of Joffrey's knights, slashes Tyrion in the face -- before Tyrion's squire, Podrick, kills Mandon -- and Tyrion passes out on the ground as fighting rages around him. It's clear that he thinks he's failed. And he might well have done so -- were it not for the breathtaking entrance of the Lannister and Tyrell cavalry, led by his father.

2. Robb & Catelyn Stark
The Battle of Blackwater Bay has a clear victor (the Lannisters) and a clear loser (Stannis). But its major beneficiary could wind up being the Starks. We ended last episode thinking that Tywin was on his way to ambush the Northern Army. But instead, he rides to his nephew's rescue in King's Landing. And though Robb would have preferred King Stannis to King Joffrey, he wouldn't have been any safer under Baratheon rule than he is now. So his enemies have killed thousands of one another -- all the while leaving his forces unscathed. There's just one problem: We now know whose side the Tyrells are on -- and it's not the Stark's ...

3. Margaery Tyrell
It's the Lannister's. "Blackwater" doesn't spell out all the diplomatic machinations clearly -- "Valar Morghulis," next week's Season 2 finale, will likely take care of that. But the shot of Loras Tyrell, Knight of Flowers, pulling off his Renly's helmet in the Red Keep, right next to Tywin Lannister, gave us all the substantive information we need. Littlefinger told Tywin he would try to win Margaery over. And it looks like he succeeded. But what did the Tyrells ask for in exchange for their support?

4. Cersei & Joffrey Lannister
Cersei's holding court with all the women and children, getting drunk and torturing Sansa as Ser Ilyn Payne sits grimly to the side, ready to "defend" them -- or, as Cersei later reveals, to kill Sansa and Cersei should Stannis prevail. And despite his new Valyrian steel sword, Hearteater, Shithead King Joffrey's no Alexander the Great. Though Sansa tries to trick Joffrey into fighting in the Vanguard, Joffrey can't even hold his post away from battle.

Back in the Red Keep, Cersei muses about her gender troubles. "I should have been born a man," she says. "I'd rather face a thousand swords than be shut up inside with this flock of frightened hens."

Cersei may not be able to fight with a sword, but she has her own weapons: If Stannis wins, she'll yield in person, though she won't do any more -- "I'd have a better chance of seducing his horse," she tells Sansa. "Tears aren't a woman's only weapon. The best one's between your legs. Learn to use it."

Cersei has other powers too. From one look at Shae, she knows immediately she's no noblewoman. But before Cersei can expose her, Lancel bursts in with news of the battle. Cersei demands that Lancel fetch Joffrey back. After his Hound abandons him (with the succinct, "Fuck the Kingsguard. Fuck the city. Fuck the King."), Joffrey chooses not to take his uncle's directive that he ride out and lead the army, leaving his guards to represent him. When Lancel comes back to tell Cersei that Joffrey must go to battle, she jabs him in his open wound and he falls to the ground shrieking.

Cersei has also obtained enough nightshade to kill herself and her children, and at episode's end, as she tells Prince Tommen a bedtime tale about lions and stags and other symbolic animals, she prepares to give him the vial, when Loras Tyrell and Tywin Lannister ride in. The battle's over. They won.

5. Stannis Baratheon
It's hard not to admire Stannis this episode. Unlike Joffrey, he has heart. Though he ultimately loses big time, he's determined to win. When his Hand hears the angry bells that greet Stannis' fleet, he answers with drums. When he sees the vast majority of his fleet go up in the green flames of wildfire, he dismisses it as "the Dwarf playing his trick, which he can only play once." When one of his men says that an amphibious assault from an unfavorable position will lead to hundreds of deaths, he responds, "Thousands." He even leads the siege himself, dodging flaming arrows while climbing a ladder onto the city walls. He even cuts the top third of a guy's head off! Super-scalping. Alas, without a sailboat full of wildfire, a man cannot win a battle by himself. By the end of "Blackwater," Stannis seems to have lost everything. We don't even know if he survives the battle. The moral of his story? If your power was gained with the help of a Red Priestess of Ass'hai, don't leave said priestess at home when you go to the biggest battle of your entire life.

Wildcards

Sansa Stark
Sansa spends most of this episode frowning while her captors Cersei and Joffrey torture her in various semi-polite ways. But she also shows the ways she's gaining control of her own destiny. She's getting fiercer. In her early exchange with Joffrey, she gets some pleasure by asking Joffrey whether he's going to be in the vanguard of the battle. He says that he doesn't discuss battle plans with stupid girls. To this she responds, "Of course, I'm stupid. My brother always fights in the vanguard at his battles, and he's just a pretender. Of course a real king would fight in the vanguard." Joffrey squirms.

Later, when she's waiting in Maegor's Holdfast, and Cersei, wasted, runs away to find her children, she sensibly leads the other women in a cheerful hymn -- before retreating to her room. She finds Sandor Clegane waiting for her, but he doesn't want to hurt her. He wants to take her back to Winterfell. But she seems to refuse his offer. She's not ready to stop playing the game of thrones quite yet.

Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish
Littlefinger doesn't appear in person this episode, but his presence is felt via the arrival of the Tyrells. He'll be sure to extract a proper reward for services rendered.



Differences from the Book
The showrunners have said that this episode was by far the costliest so far in the series... the scale of the battle -- as written by George R.R. Martin -- led them to ask for a boatload of extra funding from HBO. All that money and skill meant that they could put on a good show. Still, you can't expect them to quite replicate the dazzling battle as it's portrayed in "A Clash of Kings." Here are a few of the differences between HBO's "Blackwater" and the sequence as it appeared in the books:

• Bronn and Sandor Clegane didn't clash so directly in the book.


• The Battle of Blackwater took place by day in the book. (Nighttime saved them from having to create all the computer-generated effects in each shot, because you can't see very far.)


• The wildfire was deployed differently in the book; it involved a chain that was used to trap the boats. That wasn't necessary in the show because the wildfire was depicted as explosive rather than slow-burning.


• Cersei does not recognize Shae's accent anywhere in the books.


• Stannis does not make it up to ramparts of King's Landing in the book.


• Garlan Tyrell, Loras' brother, wore Renly's armor in the books, not Loras.

]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1533219 2012-05-21T14:08:19-04:00 2012-07-21T05:12:12-04:00

Amy Lee http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-lee/ Note: Do not read on if you have not seen Season 2, Episode 8 of HBO's "Game of Thrones," entitled "The Prince of Winterfell."

"If Stannis breaches the gates, the game is over." -- Tyrion Lannister

What does it mean to rule if all your subjects want to see you hanged? How can you cope with being a mother while your children are missing? How do you decide between love and duty when you're a king, a queen or a cupbearer?

These were the types of questions that each characters had to answer in the third-to-last episode of the second season of "Game of Thrones." Almost everyone was forced to confront the fact that their roles in the game do not always align with their personal desires. The is fact that a position can never make up an entire identity -- especially given that positions are always temporary.

On the face of it, these questions were vaguely undramatic, making "The Prince of Winterfell" the second dialogue-heavy, contemplative episode in a row. But the characters' answers are sure to have a major impact on our Power Rankings down the road -- and they've already shifted the balance of power. Find out how below.

The Power Rankings
Using a complex algorithm that takes into account each player's wealth, military might and dominion over lands, along with a "bonus" factor that adjusts for unquantifiable assets that could influence events, we've surveyed the lay of the land to figure out who's winning the game of thrones at this point of Season 2.



1. Stannis Baratheon
Out on the sea, Stannis and his forces are getting closer and closer to King's Landing.

Stannis and Davos have a little chat and we discover why Davos has an onion flying on his banners -- and we get another lesson about the trials of siege. When Stannis held Storm's End (with 500 men), the people starved -- they ate the horses, then the cats, then the dogs, then the rats, before Davos slipped through with onions.

Stannis promises Davos that he will make him his hand once he is king.

2. Tywin & Tyrion Lannister
Stannis' proximity aside, this was actually a pretty good episode for TyTy.

In Harrenhal, Tywin led yet another war council. His brother Kevan suggests yet another ceasefire and gets denied for the second time -- making him into something like the Worf of the Westerlands. Instead, Tywin plans to surprise the Stark forces with a massive strike. Arya overhears him, and wants to stop him with the help of Jaqen H'ghar. But she can't find her assassin friend in time -- Tywin has already left the castle by the time she finds H'ghar. The Lion will live to fight another day.

Further south, Tyrion is frantically preparing for the Siege of King's Landing. He crams on tactical study by reading the Westeros equivalent of a history textbook by an archmaester with an unpronounceable name while Bronn and Varys look on. Bronn says that he'd trade all Tyrion's books for "a few good archers" -- but Tyrion and Varys are firm in their belief that a mind can be just as sharp as a sword. Later in the episode, they look over the city and consider the possibility that Stannis's victory will end their ability to play the game, though Varys notes that King Baratheon is only one of several threats on the horizon. He's caught wind of Daenarys and her dragons all the way in Qarth.

"Even if what they say is true, it will be years before her dragons are fully grown," Varys admits. "But then... there will be nowhere to hide."

"One game at a time," Tyrion says.

3. Robb & Catelyn Stark
Jaime Lannister has escaped. And it's Catelyn's fault -- she hopes that letting Jaime go (with Brienne -- an odd, hilarious coupling) will get her back her children. Robb disagrees, telling her she's committed treason and setting the guards to watch her.

Meanwhile, in what feels like a bad rom-com sequence ripped from a different universe, Robb continues to flirt with Talisa, the foreign nurse he has a big, juicy crush on. She tells him a story about how her brother almost drowned -- and he finds it so irresistible that the two begin ripping off their clothes, betrothal be damned.

4. Cersei & Joffrey Lannister
Cersei's decided that Tyrion's trying to kill her children, especially because Joffrey is to ride to battle. "Some men have a gift for this sort of thing," she says. "Some don't. His place is not on the battlefield."

"It's not on the throne either," Tyrion says. "Sadly for all of us ..."

"That little worm between your legs does half your thinking," Cersei says, before smiling, and telling Tyrion she has his "little whore." She intends to pay her debts -- but when the whore is brought out, it's the wrong whore, Roz. Tyrion plays it off, before telling Cersei: "I will hurt you for this. A day will come when you think you're safe and happy and your joy will turn to ashes in your mouth. And you'll know the debt is paid." Cersei smiles.

Joffrey, however, continues to bathe in unfiltered stupidity. He'd like to send forces to take down the Starks. And he plans to meet Stannis once he lands so that he can give him a "red smile from ear to ear." (SOMEONE'S been watching his Blu-Ray of "The Dark Knight" on repeat...) Tyrion and Varys don't bother to hide their derision.

5. Margaery Tyrell
Though we don't see them this episode, the Tyrells are still in position to sway the balance of power in Westeros, with their fields full of food and their large armies. They have not yet declared for any of the "Five Kings." So anything could happen! Maybe Margaery will marry Theon, uniting the Reach and the Iron Islands and turning "Game of Thrones" into a fantasy version of "The Odd Couple"!

Wildcards

Theon Greyjoy
Theon, Theon, Theon. Even if he's the Prince of Winterfell, his sister's come north to tell him what an idiot he's been and to bring him home. Winterfell is "hundreds of miles from the sea" she says, and "our power comes from our ships." Besides, after his slaughter of the Stark kids, every man in the north wants Theon dead.

"Your little boy prisoners made you a promise and you got mad when they broke it?" she asks him "Are you the dumbest c-nt alive? You are weak. And you're stupid."

Theon refuses to give up his little throne and his sister warns him:

"Don't die so far from the sea."

Theon wants to take the bodies down, and to send the farmer gold -- but the farmer and his wife are dead. His guilt is far too little, and far too late.

Bran & Rickon Stark
The kids are alright! Instead of going further into the North, they doubled back over their own tracks back to the castle. The Maester and Osha, the wildling, chat in the dark.

"The little lords have suffered enough," she says. We see Bran's somber face, as he lies awake.

Arya Stark
When Jaqen can't promise he can kill Tywin at once, Arya names a different man -- Jaqen H'ghar.

"Unname me," he says. She says she will -- if he agrees to help her and her friends escape.

"A girl lacks honor," he says, but gives in. Arya, Gendry and Hotpie are to walk through the gate at midnight. They do. All the guards are already dead.

Sansa Stark
No Sansa this episode, though she's "a woman" now, so it won't be long before she's dealt with accordingly.

Jon Snow
Ygritte manages to keep Jon alive by revealing he's Ned Stark's bastard. They're even now, she says.

Jon is put with the captured Qhorin, but finds out all the other rangers have been killed in the attempt to find him. But Qhorin has a way for Jon to be useful -- if he'll do "what has to be done." Qhorin shoves Jon down the snowbank, but not before telling him that one man from the wall on the inside will be invaluable when Mance rides on the wall.

Sam, who's with the latrine digging crew, comes upon a stone marked with the writing of the First Men -- inside, there's a horn and a cache of dragonglass.

Daenerys Targaryen
Jorah wants the Mother of Dragons to sail to Astapor. She's not really the mother of dragons, he tells her, as they didn't grow in her womb or suckle at her breast.

We get the abridged version of Daenerys' "I am a magical powerful being of legend" speech, which also involves some inexplicable assertion about Daenarys not being able to have children besides the dragon. (Maybe there's some kind of connection between fire breathing and the hot flashes of early-onset menopause?) Dany insists that Jorah take her to her 'children' in the House of the Undying.

Who Do You Think Is Winning The "Game Of Thrones" This Week?
We think we do a pretty good job assessing the balance of power. But all these factors are totally subjective. So whether you agree with us -- or have other ideas entirely -- vote in the poll below for who you think is winning the dangerous "Game of Thrones." And don't forget to speak up in the comments section!



Differences From the Book
It's getting harder and harder to keep track of the differences, given that the plot of the show has swerved so far away from the text. (The butterfly effect means that entire scenes are bound to be new.) So let us know if you see others that we've missed:

• Qhorin Halfhand was never captured in the books.


• Catelyn's decision to release Jaime in "A Clash of Kings" was provoked by her finding out that Theon had killed Bran and Rickon. Without that impetus, it's less sympathetic.


• The whole sequence around Arya's escape and the third killing by Jaqen H'Ghar is completely different in the books. The two are separate -- Jaqen helps other people escape, not Arya -- and then he leaves the scene rather dramatically, Roose Bolton takes control of Harrenhal and Arya becomes his cupbearer. Only then, a little ways into his service, does she escape with Gendry and Hot Pie.


• In the book, Cersei finds and imprisons Chataya, who actually has a concrete connection to Shae. (Roz is not a major character in the books.)


• Robb's pre-marital liaison in the book takes place in the Cragg, not in his camp. (And as we've said before, it's not with anyone named Talisa.) There, he marries his non-Frey woman before finding out that his mother had freed Jaime; that makes him sympathetic to her decision.


• Maester Luwin does not find Bran and Rickon in the vaults in the books. No one does. It's hard to figure out how this will play out -- it was important, in the books, that no one knew that they were alive.

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Amy Lee http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-lee/ Note: Do not read on if you have not seen Season 2, Episode 7 of HBO's "Game of Thrones," entitled "A Man Without Honor."

"Don't look so grim. It's all just a game!" -- Theon Greyjoy

Heroes don't win. They die.

That was the theme of this week's episode of "Game of Thrones," "A Man Without Honor." But is the honorless man Theon, the newly sadist Lord of Winterfell? Is it Jaime, slaying his kin to escape his cell? Is it Xaro, stealing the dragons from his own houseguest?

It's not Jon, or Bran, and it wasn't Ned Stark. But then again, look at where these men all stand. Is it the honorable who win? Or the scum? Does Ned Stark rule the kingdom? Or does his head lay rotting on a stick in front of King's Landing?

Lessons for surviving Westeros: Trust no one. Love no one. Be cruel, not kind. And remember, in the end, it's all just a game.

The Power Rankings
Using a complex algorithm that takes into account each player's wealth, military might and dominion over lands, along with a "bonus" factor that adjusts for unquantifiable assets that could influence events, we've surveyed the lay of the land to figure out who's winning the game of thrones at this point of Season 2.



1. Stannis Baratheon
Thanks to Tyrion's conversation with Cersei, we know know just how far away Stannis' army is from King's Landing: "five days, four if they have the wind." Cersei is confident that their stores of wildfire will suffice to beat Stannis' 200 ships back. But Tyrion is less sure. And wildfire will be less useful when it comes to fending off the land armies Stannis won from his brother Renly.

2. Tywin & Tyrion Lannister
All we see from Tyrion this episode, sadly, is a relatively brief conversation with Cersei, in which we learn that no one -- including Cersei -- can control King Joffrey. Tyrion gets some flak for sending the Shithead King "two whores to abuse," but ultimately, the two adult Lannisters seem something like allies -- a rarity for them.

Meanwhile, in Harrenhal, Tywin's close proximity to Arya Stark affords us more insight into the great lord's mind. Tywin is, as ever, concerned with posterity, and with the Lannisters' position in history. He believes that his ultimate legacy will be decided by the outcome of the War of the Five Kings. If he wins, he'll go down in history as a lion; if he loses, he'll be remembered as a lamb. You know who loves to eat sheep? Wolves. Especially when they are, like Arya, wearing sheep's clothing.

3. Robb & Catelyn Stark
Things aren't exactly ideal for the Starks these days -- their Northern homeland is being held by the Iron Islanders. But Robb continues to demonstrate real fierceness on the battlefield and a surprisingly mature sense of what it means to be king. In this episode, he rides west to accept the surrender of the Cragg, the ancestral castle of House Westerling, longtime bannermen to the Lannisters. (Though it's hard not to be disconcerted by the fact that he asks the comely Lady Talisa of Volantis to ride with him.)

While he's away, the Starks' prisoner Jaime Lannister kills the son of Lord Karstark, one of the foremost of the Stark bannermen, in an attempt to escape. Lord Karstark demands to be allowed to kill Jaime as revenge -- but Catelyn Stark refuses him, setting off dissension in the ranks. The last scene in Robb's camp this episode has Catelyn asking her gargantuan guard Brienne of Tarth to raise her sword against Jaime -- but will the strike kill him or set him free?

4. Cersei & Joffrey Lannister
Two hundred of Stannis' ships are sailing to King's Landing -- more than the King has. He'll be there in five days.

"It's just you, me and Joffrey," Tyrion says, when Cersei quotes their father. "The Lord of the Seven Kingdoms. And Protector of the Realm." Tyrion tells Cersei to control her son, but she tells him he doesn't listen to her. "It's hard to put a leash on a dog," he says. "Once you've put a crown on its head."

"I always hoped he'd be like Jaime," Cersei says. "He looks like him," she goes on, as Tyrion actually rolls his eyes. "In a certain light," she appends. "Sometimes I wonder," she goes on, "If this is the price for what we've done. For our sins." THEN CERSEI CRIES. The most shocking takeaway here is that Cersei realizes just how bad Joffrey has become. No one likes the Shithead King -- not even his own mother!

5. Theon Greyjoy
After waking alone, Theon berates his men for letting a "half-wit escape with a cripple" -- along with Rickon and a wildling woman, the one Theon was "fucking" (as one unfortunate subordinate interjects) only to feel the vicious, clumsy wrath of the Ironborn prince.

"I never ran away," Theon says of his time as a foster at Winterfell (the Maester's face seems to indicate that this speaks poorly of Theon, rather than of the Starks. "Don't look so grim. It's all just a game," Theon tells Maester Luwin, as they go forth with hounds to sniff out the boys. They reach the farm that the Stark kids passed by, and the Maester tries to calm Theon.

"I'm looking at being treated like a fool, and a eunuch, for the rest of my life by my own people," Theon bursts out. "Ask yourself: Is there anything I wouldn't do to stop that from happening?" Theon sends the Maester home and begins to beat the residents. But he's not done. As we pan in, Theon stands in front of what seems to be a large torch back in Winterfell.

"What are you doing?" the Maester asks. "What have you done?" Theon answers by unfurling two charred bodies -- child-sized bodies. He certainly lives up to his earlier statement: "It's better to be cruel than weak." We've expressed dubiousness before about Theon's ability to hold Winterfell amidst the extreme hostility of the Northerners, but he showed us this episode that he's willing to do anything to maintain power.

Wildcards

Danaerys Targaryen
Dany's story gets really crazy this week. We found out last week that her dragons had been stolen -- and now we discover that the thief was her host, Xaro Xhoan Daxos. He made a deal with the warlock Pyat Pree to take the dragons to the House of the Undying in a gambit to become the King of Qarth. Daxos has Pree murder the other 11 members of the Thirteen, which had ruled Qarth as an oligarchy for centuries, in order to consolidate power for himself. Dany tries to run away, with the help of Jorah Mormont -- who'd been warned about the betrayal by the mysterious hooded woman Quaithe -- but Pree and Daxos aren't willing to let her escape. They insist that she come to the House of the Undying to care for her dragons -- "forever," according to Pree.

Petyr 'Littlefinger' Baelish
No word from Baelish this week. He's making the trek from Harrenhal to Highgarden to try and broker an alliance between the Lannisters and the Tyrells. This, by the way, is an absurdly long trip for him to be taking -- the equivalent of driving from Baltimore to Phoenix. (In the books, the Tyrells had retreated to Bitterbridge, a castle much closer to King's Landing and Harrenhal.)

Arya Stark
Tywin thinks that Jaqen's dart was meant for him, and orders his men to find the culprit.

"We look like fools and they look like heroes," Tywin says, "That's how kings fall."
When Arya enters the room, he makes her eat his mutton (fearing assassination?)

"You think I'd be in my position if I'd lost before?" he asks, as Arya stares at his neck with knife in hand. Tywin goes on to explain the vagaries of power. "Dragons happened," Tywin says of the blackened walls of Harrenhal.

And it wasn't just Aegon on the dragons -- it was his sisters too. Arya waxes rhapsodic about these warrior ladies, before Tywin tells her she reminds him of Cersei. While Tywin seems to be fully aware that Arya is no low-born girl, it's just as clear he has no idea his little confidant is a Stark.

Sansa Stark
Sansa thanks the hound for his "bravery," but he corrects her. What he likes is killing. "Killing's the sweetest thing there is," Clegane tells her. She dreams of her rape, and when she wakes, blood soaks her sheets. She begins to panic, stabbing and tearing the mattress with a knife, when Shae walks in to find her whimpering. But as they try to turn it over, another handmaid enters the room and runs off to tell Cersei, before Shae goes after her and presses a blade to her neck to ensure her silence. But when she gets back, the Hound is standing over the bed.

"I thought it would be less messy," Sansa tells Cersei of her first period. Cersei, in turn, tells Sansa of Robert's habit of hunting while she labored in birth. Jaime, however, attended each one.

"The more people you love, the weaker you are," Cersei tells her. "You'll do things for them that you shouldn't do. You'll act the fool to make them happy, to keep them safe. Love no one but your children."

"Shouldn't I love Joffrey, your grace?" Sansa asks.

"You can try," Cersei responds.

Bran Stark
As our ragtag crew makes their way to ... somewhere, they pass a friendly farm, but Bran passes, hoping to spare the people Theon's torture. This attempt, as we see, fails.

Jon Snow
As his wildling lady continues to make sex jokes ("Did you pull a knife on me in the night?" "Don't you have sheep at the wall?"), the dour, sour, sexually frustrated Jon ignores her jabs as they continue to trudge through the arctic waste of the North.

"We've been here the whole time!" Ygritte tells him as they squabble over who has the right to the lands south of the wall. Unlike him, she says, she's free. And she makes him an offer: She'll teach him "how to do it." And was anything better this episode than Ygritte's recitation of the false sex story she'll tell the men when he takes her back?

He tells her he's Ned Stark's son -- and she tells Mance Rayder the same, once the wildings have him surrounded at the center of an ice pit.

Who Do You Think Is Winning The 'Game Of Thrones'?
Last week's Power Rankings got such a vocal reaction that we want to know who you think is winning... vote in the poll below (and write a comment to explain your decision!) if you have thoughts.



Differences From the Book
It's getting harder and harder to keep track of the differences, given that the plot of the show has swerved so far away from the text. (The butterfly effect means that entire scenes are bound to be new.) But we're also starting to see some of the changes pay off in dramatic intensity -- Arya's scenes with Tywin, for example, give Tywin a complexity that he lacks in the books. As ever, if you see things we missed, let us know in the comments!

• Cersei and Jaime are both extremely frank, with multiple parties, about their incest, in this episode; this never happens in the books. It always remains covert, because of the political and personal implications of honesty.


• Tywin implies that he suspects Arya is not really low-born; the only person to do that in the books is Gendry.


• Ygritte and Jon Snow's courtship proceeds completely differently in the books, but we were glad she finally said her signature line: "You know nothing, Jon Snow."


• Jon did not get abducted by wildlings in the book.


• Sansa wasn't almost raped in the book, so she didn't have any kind of PTSD.


• Shae wasn't especially protective of Sansa in the book; she probably wouldn't have pulled a knife on another handmaiden for Sansa's sake.


• Jaime does not kill Alton Lannister in the book -- though Alton does die.


• Danaerys's arrival does not fundamentally alter the political structure of Qarth in the books. Xaro Xhoan Daxos does not kill 11 of the Thirteen in the books. He most definitely does not make an alliance with the warlocks, whom he hates. And he definitely, definitely does not become king. He had hoped to gain control of her dragons, perhaps in order to become something like a king -- but he does not. This has major implications for later in Dany's story; it'll be interesting to see how Benioff and Weiss deal with that.


• The sequence that led to Theon's child-killing is different in the book. There, he is assisted by a henchman named "Reek," who finds the children in a place much like the farm in the TV show. And they're flayed and tarred, not burned.

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