Game Of Thrones: The Women Who Stir “The Winds of Winter”

(Season 6, Episode 10)
**Spoilers**

The season finale was a game changer that paves the way for what is sure to be an exciting remaining episodes. And at the heart of it were some very strong female characters.

And I applaud “Game of Thrones” for that!

Let's take a look at the females...


Cersei gets her revenge

The matriarch of the Lannister family was not going to go out in a whimper. On the contrary, she soared in a bang… and a boom!

She is set to stand trial in front of the Seven…

…where an emotionally battered Loras Tyrell confessed his sins and pledged his allegiance to the Seven, renouncing his claims to Highgarden, promising to never get married or have children. He then received a parting gift, markings on his forehead—much to the chagrin of the Queen, who had been promised that Loras would be free to leave (which he still can but just not as he came).

But where is Cersei when all this goes down? Doesn't she have a trial to attend?

She never showed up. Actually, neither did her son, King Tommen. That’s because Cersei has a plan. The Mountain kept Tommen from leaving his room.

Meanwhile, The grand Maester was murdered, stabbed to death by the children. Why?

“Before we usher in the new, the old must be put to rest.”

Sounds good to me.

This is all part of a plan as Cersei had The Sept of Baelor burned down with wildfire.

The Queen knew something was up. She’s quite shrewd.

But the High Sparrow would not let here leave and so this happened…

Everyone including The High Sparrow, Loras, The Queen, the Queen’s father were burned in a blaze of green glory!



Add to that a bit of side revenge on the woman who tormented Cersei while she was jail.

But it came with a cost, King Tommen depressed over losing his woman, commits suicide—death by jumping out of the window.

Cersei is childless, which means she has the throne to herself and all the power her heart’s desire. But she doesn't look all that happy...

Jamie arrives in timely fashion and seeing Cersei crowned tells him all he needs to know about his remaining child.


Olenna and Ellaria plot their revenge

Olenna lost her son and two grandchildren in Cersei’s wildfire. Her anger has made her as feisty as ever when she meets with another woman who has a bone to pick… or devour.

So, what’s the plan? Drum roll, please…

This is gonna be good!


Ayra sends her regards

With Riverrun back in the control of the Freys and Lannisters, Walder Frey holds another of his special dinners. He opens with a toast.

“And when we drive our swords through our enemies' hearts, may we speak the words of our alliance... The Freys and the Lannisters, send their regards.” - Walder

He then proceeds to boast with Jamie Lannister because he got Riverrun back and is feeling mighty “big” at the moment; until, Jamie knocks him down several sharp pegs.

“Fear is a marvelous thing.”- Frey

“They don’t fear the Freys though, they fear the Lannisters. We gave you the Riverlands to hold the Riverlands. If we have to ride north and take them back for you every time you lose them… Why do we need you?” - Jamie

And that’s not the worst of it. The party is over, Walder is doing what Walder does best, sits at his table, eating and drinking, when a woman serves him something that looks kind of delicious…

But it’s not an ordinary meal. It’s his two sons mashed up into what will be Walder’s final meal. Ewww!

And that girl isn’t an ordinary girl, it’s the many-face Arya.

She gets her revenge! Her list is getting shorter.


Lyanna Stark gives birth to a King

North of the wall, Benjen leaves his nephew—the new three-eyed raven—in the middle of nowhere. Okay, maybe not quite nowhere, there is that tree after all.

He touches it and sees what many of us have been waiting for… the answer to “who is in the tower?”

Ned finds Lyanna dying, bleeding out.

“If Robert finds out, he’ll kill him. You know he will… you have to protect him, promise me Ned, promise me… Promise me, Ned. Promise me.” - Lyanna

The sounds of a baby cries as Ned is handed baby Jon Snow.

Melisandre lives another day

Her night wasn’t as triumphant as some, but she was facing death. Davos told Jon about her burning Shireen at the stack.

Jon decided not to kill her… at least not today. She’s to leave, travel south and if she ever returns, he would have her hanged.

She gained enough points for resurrected Jon to earn her another shot of life—but not before telling Davos that Shireen's parents allowed the burning to happen.



Sansa trumps Little Finger

Sansa is looking for some alone time when Little Finger comes a sniffn’.

She asks him what he wants and he goes on about this picture in his head that drives him.

“A picture of me on the iron throne and you by my side.” - Little Finger

“It’s a pretty picture.” - Sansa

Then she walks away. BAM!

I have to wonder, how did leaving her with the Boltons factor into this picture of his.

Sansa also had a touching moment with Jon Snow. To her, he’s a Stark. And he tells her they need to trust each other because they are surrounded by enemies.

Aw. I love these two


Lady Mormont gives the Lords a verbal lashing

With Jon and Sansa at the head of the table looking out onto a crowded room of men from the North, there stood 10 year-old Lady Mormont.

She let the Lords know of their cowardice, how they didn’t stand up and fight against the Boltons after all the horrendous things the Boltons had done to them.

“We know no King, but the King in the North, whose name is Stark. I don’t care if he’s a bastard. Ned Stark’s blood runs through his veins. He’s my king from this day till his last day.” - Lady Mormont

This leads to the men standing up in rousing support of the new King of the North… Jon Snow.

Daenerys has her ships

“Slaver’s Bay” has been renamed to “The Bay of Dragons”.

The Mother of Dragons starts off dumping her boy toy. Daario is broken up about it, but she has higher goals… and who knows, she may have to marry to solidify her quest for the throne. Having Daario around gets in the way.

You go girl!

She then makes Tyrion the “hand of the Queen”.

She is now on her way…

Side Note:

Sam makes it to the library.

Too bad they don’t allow women in there… BOO!

Game Of Thrones RECAP - Jon v Ramsay: “Battle of the Bastards”

(Season 6, Episode 9)
**Spoilers**


Battle of The Bastards

Jon Snow has come a long way from “knowing nothing” to both being in the middle of the ongoing White Walker infestation and now the battle for the North. 

He’s set to face off with Ramsay. I didn’t think anyone could be worse than Joffrey Lannister. But then in came Bolton’s Bastard son—who fed his step-mother and her newborn to those hungry dogs that Ramsay likes to starve for those special occasions.



Pre Battle

Ramsay meets up with a party to discuss terms that could avoid a war. Let’s see who’s there:

The usually suspects… and…

I didn’t expect to see 10-year old Lady Lyanna Mormont. But her 62 men bought a spot in the meet-up.

Ramsay first turns his attention to Sansa…

“My beloved wife. I’ve missed you terribly (to Sansa)… Thank you for returning Lady Bolton safely (to Jon)” - Ramsay

Then he goes on to tell them that if Sansa goes with him, he will basically let bygones be bygones, even pardoning Jon’s leaving of the Night’s Watch (though I think being murdered let him off that hook).

“I’m a man of mercy.” - Ramsey

Jon offers to save them all from war by having a one-on-one battle with Ramsay and of course Ramsay isn’t biting on that bait. And thankfully so because I want to see a battle! We didn’t get a battle with Jamie and Blackfish at Rivverun, so we can’t be cheated out of this one.

“You’re going to die tomorrow, Lord Bolton… Sleep well.” - Sansa

She rides off and Ramsay goes on…

“You’re all fine looking men. My dogs are desperate to meet you.I haven’t fed them for 7 days, they’re ravenous. I wonder what parts they’ll try first… your eyes, your balls… we’ll find out soon enough…” - Ramsay

Jon’s camp

After the men plan, Sansa speaks to Jon alone. She’s upset. She knows Ramsay isn’t an ordinary man and he will do something unexpected. She feels Jon has underestimated him and feels they need more men. She tells Jon that Ramsay will more than likely kill Rickon.


Battle time

Ramsay is great at mind games. He uses cruelty to break his opponents. Sansa knew that and Jon is about to get a first-hand lesson.

Ramsay brings out Rickon.

You think Ramsay will kill him right there and then, but he doesn’t. He allows the boy to run to Jon, who gallops toward Rickon.

Ramsay shoots arrows, miss after miss. But that’s just part of the sick game, because just as Jon is about to lift his brother upon the horse to safety, Ramsay shoots the killing blow, leaving Jon in a state of maddening anger. He then rushes toward Ramsey’s forces as if to take on the entire army by himself.

Luckily he has backup as his forces rush in.

The battle is fierce and brutal. And once all of Jon’s forces are involved, Ramsay orders his forces to surround them, closing in with knight spears.

Jon and Tormund are losing. It’s nearly over with a cocky Ramsay looking on with gleam until…

Littlefinger and Sansa arrive with the Nights of the Vale. They new soldiers descend upon the Bolton army, sending Ramsay fleeing behind the walls of his castle. But there is one man who can break those walls.

But it cost him his life. RIP not-so-gentle giant. I will always remember just how cool you looked during the white walker battle north of the wall as you walked through the cold water

What is to become of Ramsay?

Well, his dogs are starving. Sansa has a bloody Ramsay tied to a chair inside the cell with his hounds as she watches them eat him alive.

He should have fed those dogs.


The Pyramid, Meereen

Despite the battle that descended upon them last night, Tyrion tries to act like everything is all right.

“Despite appearances, I think you’ll find this city’s on the rise. (explosive type noise) Perhaps we should take shelter.” - Tyrion

“The city’s on the rise?” - Daenerys

This is a funny scene. But he explains that there was always going to be a war because the masters don’t want the city knowing about life withouth slavery. She agreed.

They then meet 3 of the masters.

And proceed to take their forces out with the 3 dragons and the hoard of Dothrakes she brought with her.


Tyrion/Daenerys meet Theon/Yara

Theon and Yara currently have about 100 ships from the iron fleet. Yara wants to make a deal. Her ships for help to regain back the Iron Islands.

Both women share the bond of being strong females with a desire to rule. They also have horrible fathers, who were murdered.

Theon explains that his uncle, Euron, will be coming to make a deal as well. Daenerys wonders why she shouldn’t take Euron’s deal. They explain that Euron’s deal comes with marriage. He wants to rule. He wants power.

Danearys turns to Yara…

“And I imagine your offer is free of any marriage demands?” _ Daenerys

“I never demand, but I’m up for anything, really” - Yara

And here is where I squeal. I have another couple to ship!


Additional item

Davos finds the toy deer in the fire pit. The deer that belongs to Shireen.

He now knows that Melisandre had her burned.

Game Of Thrones RECAP: “No One”

(Season 6, Episode 8)
**Spoilers**


Riverrun

Brienne & Jamie:

I’ve been looking forward to this reunion between Brienne and Jamie and it didn't disappoint.

Brienne’s goal is to acquire the aid of Blackfish and his troops to help Sansa & Jon battle Ramsey. But when she arrives at Riverrun, she spots Lanister’s men.

She offers to discuss a truce with Blackfish and try and convince him to give up the castle. Jamie tried this earlier but to no avail, so he’s not confident that Brienne could persuade Blackfish, especially since Blackfish was totally fine with watching Frey’s men kill his nephew.

But in case she does manage to get Blackfish to up and leave, Jamie promised to allow Blackfish and his men to go unharmed.

But what if she can’t convince Blackfish to accept a truce? Then the next time Jamie and Brienne meet will be on the battlefield.

“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that” - Jamie Lannister 

Brienne offers to return the sword he gave her, but Jamie won’t take it back… it belongs to Brienne.

These two have great chemistry. Too bad Jamie is in love with Cersei. At least I have that red headed Wildling to match Brienne with.

Brienne and Blackfish

Brienne enters Riverrun and hands Blackfish a message from his niece, Sansa.

Surely, he’ll leave and help her, right?

“She wants her home back, I understand that. But this is my home and if Jamie Lannister wants it, he can bloody well take it the way everyone else does” - Blackfish

…I guess not.

Jamie & Edmure:

Meanwhile, Jamie has a conversation with Edmure Tully, who’s in a tent and tied to a post… at least he still has his head. We learn that Edmure has a baby boy he’s never seen because he’s been locked away in the dungeon for all this time. Poor guy, that’s what he gets for helping out Rob Stark.

Jamie lets Edmure know that he’ll do whatever he has to do to get back to his sister. He’s willing to go to war and he’s willing to kill as many of them as he needs to.

Edmure & Blackfish

With Brienne unable to convince Blackfish, Jamie frees Edmure.

Edmure approaches the castle and orders Blackfish to drop the drawbridge. Blackfish has no intention of allowing his nephew to enter.

But it’s not up to Blackfish. Edmure, not Blackfish, is Lord. So the men allow Edmure in, who quickly orders them to lay down their weapons and give the castle to the Lannisters.

Edmure wants his uncle arrested. Guess he’s not too happy with his uncle’s cavalier attitude toward his impending death at the hands of Frey’s men yesterday. And I don’t blame him. Blackfish is a terrible uncle.

As the men pile their weapons and Jamie rides into the castle, Blackfish leads Brienne to an exit where she can escape by boat. She pleads with him to join her.

“Don’t die for pride when you can fight for your blood.” - Brienne

He chooses pride. This is his ancestry home and he’ll die there rather than flee. And so this is the last we see of Blackfish.

Jamie looks out at the river and spots Brienne on the boat. He lets her escape. And both share a lingering look and a wave good-bye.

King’s Landing

Lancel drops by with some men to inform Cersei that the high Septon wants her to go with them; but she has no intention of leaving the castle. And why should she when she has The Mountain to back her up.

The Mountain moves forward, ready to defend Cersei.

“Order your man to step aside or there will be violence,” - Cousin Lancel

“I choose violence” - Cersei

One of Lancel’s men has never seen The Mountain fight. And so he attacks and The Mountain kills him with ease.

Lancel and his men flee. Smart move.

Later, Tommen sits on the throne ready to speak while Cersei is forced to stand with the other members unable to stand by her son.

“Trial by combat will be forbidden throughout the 7 kingdoms. The tradition is a brutish one, a scheme devised by corrupt rulers in order to avoid true judgment from the Gods.” - Tommen

There goes Cersei’s “get out of a death sentence” card.

What will she do? Will she run? Will she stay for the trial?

The Pyramid

Looks like Tyrion misjudged the situation.

“The masters have come for their property.”

Oops…

Things aren’t looking good as they hold up in the pyramid waiting to fight when in comes the mother of dragons.

Tyrion is happy to see her, but he’s got to be feeling really bad about being so confident in his mediating skills.

The Hound

The Hound is back to his murdering ways as he takes his axe and goes on a killing spree to get revenge for what happened to those people and, in particular, that one man who saved his life and became his friend.

During his rampage, he comes upon Beric.

It seems those foul men were part of Beric’s crew and he’s hanging them for the same crime.

Beric offers The Hound a chance to ride with them because he knows that something bad is coming from the North and they could use good men. The Lord of Light must have given The Hound the ability to kill him for a reason.

Though The Hound figures he’s just a better fighter than Beric.

Arya Stark

Arya asks the actress to help her out, the actress whose life she didn’t take. But this doesn’t end well when the assassin kills the actress and chases Arya all over town.

They finally meet in the tunnels where Arya had been hiding out. Arya holds needle in her hand and darkens the area.

Soon after, the faceless man arrives in his mausoleum of heads to find the assassin’s head. As expected, Arya won.

“Finally a girl is no-one.” - Faceless man

“A girl is Arya Stark of Winterfell and I’m going home.” - Arya

He seems quite pleased with this.

I wonder will she be able to go faceless or is that totally lost to her since she's leaving?

Game Of Thrones: RECAP “The Broken Man”… Heee’s Baaack And Other Highlights

(Season 6, Episode 7)

**spoilers**

We open up the episode watching a group of people building a structure on a rural piece of land with no cities in sight.

Sounds like some major filler stuff going on here, let me grab a can of soda from the fridge, no need to hit the pause button, and then…

HE turned around, letting us take a long look at his mug.

The Hound! So glad that rule of “if you don’t see ‘em dead, they probably aren’t dead” held true. The Hound became a fan favorite, who was left for dead when we last saw him.

The Hound was picked up and saved. He’s now living among this peaceful group of people. But that doesn’t last long when 3 men ride up like something from the old west. The Hound knows these guys are up to no good and the episode ends with The Hound returning from chopping wood to find those poor people slaughtered.

Yeah, we all saw this coming. It’s sad, but that means The Hound will travel and maybe we’ll get a Hound/Arya or Hound/Brienne reunion.

Arya vs The Many Faces

Arya wants to high tail it out of there and wh can blame her. With 2 bags of coins she finds a sailer who will take her away. Things are looking good, but this is Game Of Thrones, something is about to go down.

She meets an old woman who appears harmless. But it’s not an old woman…

It’s her nemesis assassin, who stabs her multiple times, even twisting the knife as she reveals her true face underneath. Arya jumps into the river and swims away.

These many face people have a serious trick up their sleeve. Arya is terrified as she walks through the streets, bleeding.

Her eyes dart to everybody as she walks through the crowded streets. Anybody could be an assassin. This is almost as dangerous as the Matrix minus the red dress.

Kings Landing

Last we saw, the Queen convinced the King to honor the High Sparrow and his religion. She really is good at this manipulation thing. She may end up surviving this Game Of Thrones that have taken so many.

The High Sparrow confided that her grandmother may be in danger. Oh Hellz No! I love me some grandma! She took on Cersei letting Cersei know exactly what she thinks of her.

Grandma is a tough bird. She gets a visit from the her granddaughter, the Queen, who seems all religious and tells her to go home, leave King’s Landing. The Queen slips a note to her to let her know that’s in an act and King’s Landing is not safe.

Riverrun

Blackfish is holding down the castle. But Frey’s men have an ace up their sleeve, Blackfish’s nephew

You better give up that castle or your nephew is gonna die, buddy

Blackfish is like... Go ahead and kill him. Blackfish probably doesn’t like his nephew all that much.

Oh, shoot. Now what?  They let the infamous Red Wedding Groom go. I guess that ace was more like a 2 of clubs. But heck, the poor guy gets to live another day. Good or him.

From a distance the cool road team of Jamie and Bronn are watching.

Jamie is not impressed.

“Only a fool makes threats he’s not prepared to carry out. Let’s say… I threaten to hit you unless you shut your mouth and you kept talking—” Jamie

“I don’t give a rat’s—” - Fool gets PUNCHED by Jamie

Jamie meets with Blackfish and Blackfish will not give in. He’s will to fight for as long as it takes.


Rob Stark has hurt the Stark name

Sansa and Jon Snow look to gather forces and find themselves groveling… ur, I mean… asking for help.

Jon Snow starts with the Wildlings with his new ginger friend championing his cause. Which lead to the best one line of the night…

“Snow”

Said by our not-so-gentle gentle.

When he speaks, everyone listens. Looks like Jon Snow got himself some Wildling warriors.


But that's not going to be enough so the three musketeers head out together.

Next up: Bear Island, which is ruled by a 10 year old Lady Lyanna. But she’s no ordinary 10 year old. She’s a tough girl, who doesn’t have time for small talk and knows exactly why they’re there.

How did she become the Lady of the house? Her mother died fighting for Rob Stark.

Sansa and Jon are going to have to prove why Lady Lyanna should get involved. And they can’t crack this tough nut of a girl. Thank goodness Davos came with them as he had the magic touch and got 62 fighting men in return.

Next stop: House Glover where they talk to an stern Lord Glover. He refuses their request. So Sans steps in and reminds Lord Glover that is pledged to House Stark.

Lord Glover with angry eyes informs Sansa that House Glover has served House Stark for centuries. And that his brother answered Rob Stark’s call…

“Where was king rob when the Ironborn attacked this castle. When they Threw my wife and children in prison and brutalized and killed our subjects. Taking up with a foreign whore and getting himself and those who followed him killed.” - Lord Glover

I guess that’s a NO.

The Northerners loved Ned Stark, but they don’t have much love for Rob Stark. He got his family and himself killed because he couldn’t honor his commitments. And let’s not forget what happened to the groom from the Red Wedding.

Now, Sansa and Jon have a more difficult time in gathering allegiances.

But there is some hope..

Sansa and Jon return to their base of operations. Sansa wants to talk to Castle Cerwyn, but Jon Snow feels there is not time. That’s when Sansa sees one of those crows and writes a message…

This is probably going to Castle Cerwyn.

Let’s rewind to Bolton vs Cerwyn:

Ramsey wanted his taxes from Cerwyn House. But they refused because they are sworn to the Stark House. So what does Crazy Ramsey do? The usual… He has Lord Cerwyn, his wife and brother flayed alive. And he had his son watch.

"I sent you there to collect taxes, not bodies." - Roose Bolton

“…"The new Lord Cerwyn paid his taxes." - Ramsey (referring to his dead flayed family as taxes paid)

YIKES!

Theon, Yara and the topless lady

A bar with boobs circling about is probably not Theon’s first choice to relax and chill. While Yara is ready to have herself a HOT time.

This part of the episode was very heart warming. Theon is a lost soul. He’s broken in all kinds of ways. Does he even want to go on living? He’s practically the walking dead.

Yara softens up on her brother. She needs him. She loves him. She wants to know if he ready to fight to get himself back and be her Ironborn brother.

And he looks at her and let’s her know that’s he wants to be by her side. Yara kisses her brother on the head. So sweet. I love these two.

I really want to see Theon's evolution. But for now, Yara has a date with a pair of boobs.