Be warned. As they say across the Internet, this post is dark and full of spoilers.
We’re two episodes into the latest season of Game Of Thrones, and some crazy things have already happened in Westeros and beyond. Here are four important things in particular we’ve learned in the early going.
1. Jon Snow vs. Ramsay Bolton Is In Play
If you read the books, you know that George R.R. Martin pretty much set up the most satisfying would-be hero vs. villain clash in the series only to squash it by killing off Jon Snow. As things were, Snow was on the verge of forsaking his duties at the Wall to head home to Winterfell and lay waste to his bastard counterpart. But as we all know now, the misguided brothers of the Night’s Watch had other plans for Snow, and in both the books and season five we were left wondering if he could really be dead.
Jon Snow is the subject of endless speculation and theories. There’s the wildly popular R+L=J theory, which now has its own Wikipedia page; there’s the theory that he’s Azor Ahai; and more bluntly, there was the theory that he simply had to be coming back to life. We’re still waiting on the first two theories, but after episode two we know that Jon is indeed back among the living. And what’s more, the showdown with Ramsay appears to be fully on. We may all have seen Jon’s comeback coming, but the shock of the episode was Ramsay’s murder of his father, stepmother, and new baby brother, as well as his plan to ride north and attack the Night’s Watch. This may be A Song Of Ice And Fire, but it’s looking like Snow vs. Snow in the near future (even though Ramsay’s last name is now technically Bolton).
2. “Fu*k Everyone Who Isn’t Us”
It’s one of the quotes of the season so far, and it belongs to Jaime Lannister, though in truth it applies to both him and his twin Cersei. These two have had an us-against-the-world mentality for most of the show’s duration, truth be told, and they’re one of the more fearsome duos that’s still intact. Before the season started, Lottoland did a fascinating write-up of Thrones characters divided into “districts” in a simulated Hunger Games. The point was to illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of different characters and pit them against one another. And while that analysis game Jaime and Cersei only 4/1 odds to “win” the “Hunger Game Of Thrones,” most other duos are broken up. For instance, Oberyn and Ellaria can’t very well do damage together anymore, and the Daenerys/Drogo partnership is a thing of the past.
The analysis of that article is a nice reminder of the deadly combination of strengths held by Jaime and Cersei, even if Jaime’s lost his sword hand. And in the first two episodes, the Lannister twins seem to be remembering their power. Jaime came back from Dorne foaming at the mouth to right the wrongs done to his family, and Cersei—whose one redeeming quality, as Tyrion put it, is loving her children—has a son and a daughter to avenge. These two aren’t done making waves yet.
3. “I Drink, And I Know Things”
Another early quote-of-the-season candidate, this one belongs to Tyrion Lannister (those Lannister brothers are on a roll with dialogue). He says it while speaking to Lord Varys and others helping him rule Meereen in Dany’s absence, and really it’s a pretty great summary of his character up to that point (and he knows it). There’s been a strong point made throughout the series that Tyrion’s weapon is his mind, and he feeds it by reading books to sharpen his knowledge and drinking to lower his inhibitions.
But it’s the specific “things” he knows that made episode two absolutely fascinating. It’s not quite R+L=J, but there’s another popular lineage theory out there that suggests Tyrion is actually a Targaryen, and doesn’t know it. What Culture has the details, but basically the idea is that the Mad King Aerys Targaryen got with Tywin Lannister’s wife and produced Tyrion, and that Tywin then raised the imp to protect his House’s honor. Additional background for the theory is that Tyrion has a fascination with dragons, and in episode two we saw that that fascination goes beyond books. Tyrion essentially tamed two of Dany’s dragons, and everything we know up to that point makes it hard to believe anyone but a Targaryen could have done so.
4. It’s Flashback Time
This one’s simpler, but equally exciting. We were finally reunited with Bran Stark in episode two, and as many expected he’s gone into full seer/three-eyed raven/weird tree-mystic mode. Many believed Bran’s newfound ability to see things in different places and at different points in time would lead to flashbacks that would give the show an excuse to bring Sean Bean back for some more Ned Stark action. Some Jon Snow resurrection deniers even believed Bran’s flashbacks might account for reports of Kit Harrington being seen on set. But we’ve now seen our first flashback, and it indicates more depth than we expected. Bran saw his father as a child at Winterfell, and we got our first glimpse of the long-lost Lyanna Stark as well. There’s all kinds of places for this to go, and it makes Bran’s return one of the most exciting elements of the season early on.
